College of Law event asks ‘Who owns your body?’

The West Virginia University College of Law is asking students who owns their bodies.

Michele Goodwin will talk to students about the laws surrounding medical research on Monday at noon in the Marlyn E. Lugar courtroom.

The lecture, titled "Who Owns Your Body? A Conversation about Medical Research and The Body Bazaar," will be part of the College of Law's annual John W. Fisher II Lecture in Law and Medicine.

"There's an important connection between law and medicine," said Anne Lofaso, professor and associate dean for faculty research and development. "Every year we try to do something that will be of interest to both the legal and medical communities"

Goodwin, a professor of medicine, public health and law at the University of Minnesota, will focus on medical research and human experimentation with an emphasis on the laws surrounding ownership of the human body.

Lofaso said controversial topics like these are important for both law and medical professionals to openly discuss.

"We Americans like to think that every citizen is equal, so when we see these problems, we want to fix them," she said. "In this lecture, we want to focus not just on what goes on in law and medicine but these inequities as well. It shouldn't be just research at all costs – research shouldn't

sacrifice human dignity."

Lofaso said discussing hot topics is nothing new for the College of Law, which aims to get students discussing important issues.

"I think a lot of our lectures are interesting because our events feature nationally recognized experts that you don't need a law degree to understand," Lofaso said. "They talk about big issues and hold open conversations about the important topics of today."

Lofaso said she hopes these lectures will be of interest to all students, whether they are planning to go to law school or not.

"These lectures are a good way of getting students involved in legal issues," she said. "Even if they don't want to go to law school, just as citizens they should want to understand and get involved in some of these issues."

Funding for the John W. Fisher II Lecture was provided by Thomas S. Clark and his wife Jean Clark in 1998. The benefactors contributed $500,000 to provide funding for lectures in ten different fields throughout West Virginia.

WVU was able to secure one of these funded lectures, which was created to discuss important topics in law and medicine and was named in honor of John Fisher, the 15th dean of the College of Law.