◆ The Office for the Promotion of Gender Equality held a lecture by a role model titled “Living and Dying: What Do You and I Want to Do in the Time Between?”
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On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, the Office for the Promotion of Gender Equality held an international workshop titled “We Who Live and Die: What Do You and I Want to Do in the Meantime?” as part of its series of lectures featuring role models. The speaker, Mariko Okuno (Nakano), is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, Director of Bioethics for the Alabama Genome Health Project, and Ethics Advisor to the UAB Institute for Precision Medicine.
Dr. Okuno has been involved in the Alabama Genome Health Project since 2017, and on this occasion, he spoke about genotyping and the provision of medical information to the general public, as well as whole-genome sequencing and research for patients with genetic disorders.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as a researcher in bioethics, I have been addressing issues related to our values regarding life and death—such as whether it is permissible to prioritize certain treatments like intensive care, mechanical ventilation, ECMO, and vaccines, and whether COVID-19 treatment should take precedence even at the expense of other medical care and treatments. Given the differences in culture, historical background, religious views, and values between Japan and the United States, I was presented with examples from both countries regarding euthanasia and assisted dying.
