The Purpose

Hospital, Codice Squarcialupi, XV centuryThe MedConference, in its 3rd edition (*), is born out of the desire of a group of physicians, nurses and students to pursue within the medical fields the ideals for which they decided to embrace the medical profession.

The organizers of this conference strongly desire to provide a yearly meeting place where health care professionals may encounter others with a desire to rebuild a more person-oriented health care.

(*) For 1st and 2nd editions:
2009 MedConference
2010 MedConference

About Us

The core of the medical profession, which is the relationship between patient and  caregiver, is too often reduced to a sort of mechanism. The very nature of medical care is at risk, because the concept of ‘person’ is confused.

The nature of the person is expressed by critical questions which easily emerge in front of sickness, sorrow and death. What is the meaning of this illness? Why is there pain and death? Why is it worthy to be a doctor or a nurse today? What is it that a patient asks of a caregiver?

The Human Adventure Corporation and the American Association of Medicine and the Person (AAMP) invite invite you to a three-day medical conference for physicians, nurses and med students. This project is supported by a grant from the ‘Cesare Zorzoli Donation.’

The Theme

Medicine’s goal is to heal the life of our patients, because life is a fundamental good. Historically, medical care focused on alleviating the patients’ suffering, more recently the developments of science and medical technology have made possible the healing of an increasing number of sick persons. However, when the impossibility of cure becomes apparent, a new risk emerges: that of abandoning the patient.

We submit that, even when a medical or surgical cure can no longer allow a complete recovery, much can still be done to care for the patient. This is not something to be underestimated, because every individual patient, even one who is incurable, bears an inherent unconditional value, which constitutes the indispensable basis of every medical intervention.

Moreover, the decision for a specific treatment, whether medical, surgical or palliative, is quite complex, depending not only on the diagnosis and prognosis, but also on thepatient’s concrete situation – here and now.

Is evidence based medicine the only guideline for decisions related to the initiation or the cessation of a specific medical treatment? How do we measure ‘how far’ we can go with invasive procedures? What is palliative care?

At the end of the day, we as caregivers serve the lives of others and each one of our patients has a destiny that is not decided by us or by them. To whom do we respond?

The 2011 MedConference proposes that the specific mission qualifying the medical profession includes 3 main objectives: to cure the patient or at least to attempt to prevent further development of the disease, to alleviate the associated painful symptoms, especially in the advanced stages of illness, and to attend to all the sick person’s needs and expectations.