GLOBAL NEUROLOGY REPORT: WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR MEDICAL LAW CONFERENCE

World Association for Medical Law (WAML) Congress

The 50th Anniversary Meeting and 23rd World Association for Medical Law (WAML) Congress was held on 9-14 July 2017 in Baku, Azerbaijan.  Leading international experts from around the globe discussed topics related to GlobalHealth, Medical Law and Bioethics.

Drs. James C. Johnston, Mehila Zebenigus and Guta Zenebe presented recommendations for improving relations between developed and developing countries through guidelines that focus on ethically advancing collaborative partnerships to improve health care. This topic followed Dr. Johnston’s lecture last year at the WAML meeting in Los Angeles, USA discussing the medical, ethical and legal problems that arise when Western countries engage in short term medical missions to resource limited nations, resulting in medical paternalism, doctor tourism and actual harm to the very patients that are most desperate for help.  Specific examples of these problems were presented at both meetings, along with clear guidelines on how to avoid the harmful effects of these self-serving missions.

Drs. James C. Johnston and Mehila Zebenigus also discussed concerns related to neuroimaging for the patient presenting with headache. They recommended deleting the currently used guidelines because those guidelines are outdated, and have been a contributing factor in the continuing misdiagnosis of headache disorders.  Dr. Zebenigus discussed the management of the patient with headache in Ethiopia.

Drs. Thomas P. Sartwelle, James C. Johnston, Berna Arda and Mehila Zebenigus highlighted the concerns related to using electronic fetal monitoring in sub-Saharan Africa, how that procedure causes more harm than good, and wastes scarce resources that would be better used helping children with cerebral palsy.

In terms of disclosure, Drs. Zebenigus and Johnston are Directors of the non-profit organization Global NeuroCare® which focuses on advancing neurological services in sub-Saharan Africa and particularly Ethiopia, and is actively involved in all of these areas.