Dr. Theodore Cooper, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health. Education and Welfare will deliver the annual American Society of Law & Medicine Oration on Monday, June 21, 1976 in Boston. Dr. Cooper's address will focus on the federal government's role in the health care field and will take place at the Society's annual dinner meeting being held in conjunction with a two day national conference on the medicolegal implications of patient injury from medical products. devices and drugs. The Conference and oration will take place June 21 and 22 at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston.

During the business meeting Monday evening, the Assistant Secretary for Health will also receive the ASLM's Honorary Life Membership Award for his outstanding contributions in medicolegal education and for his distinguished service in government and medicine.

While most courtroom confrontations involving childbirth concern parents seeking damages for alleged physician and hospital negligence, a number of recent cases have involved parents seeking simply to have their babies with a minimum of medical intervention. Courts, however, have consistently deferred to “expert” medical opinion in this area.

The extreme reluctance of courts to substitute their judgment for that of hospital boards is nowhere better illustrated than in the cases involving fathers in the delivery room. While most hospitals with maternity wards currently permit “husband-coached' (Lamaze or psychoprophylactic being the most common method) childbirth, in which the father is with the mother throughout labor and delivery, supplying physical and emotional support, lawsuits to compel a change in the policies of those institutions that do not, have been universally unsuccessful to date.

Focusing on the mounting medicolegal problems associated with the prevention of patient injury from medical products, medical devices and drugs, the American Society of Law & Medicine has designed a unique and most timely national conference using a multi-disciplined approach to cover liability in malpractice and products liability actions of hospitals, physicians, other health-care providers, manufacturers and suppliers. The program, “Injury from Medical Products, Devices and Drugs—Liability of Manufacturers, Hospitals and Physicians” will be a full two day meeting at the Copley Plaza Hotel in “Bicentennial” Boston, June 21 and 22, 1976.

The faculty is composed of outstanding authorities with expertise in the field of products liability and medical malpractice legal actions, insurance coverage, safety and prevention programs, hospital administration, and governmental regulatory agencies.