Regis University's Center for Ethics and Leadership in the Health Professions will host an interactive panel discussion on Personal Accountability and Health Care Reform from 9 a.m. to noon on Oct. 4 in the University's Adult Learning Center Mountain View Room.

The three featured panelists are Joan McGregor, lincoln professor of bioethics at Arizona State University; Mark Ringel, physician, consultant, author and radio commentator; and Richard Lamm, co-director of the Institute for Public Policy Studies, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy and Contemporary Issues at the University of Denver and a former Colorado governor.

Among the questions to be addressed are: should people be held accountable for personal decisions that negatively affect their health; if so, how should they be held accountable, and how should such accountability be incorporated into the health care system?

According to Deb Bennett-Woods, chair and associate professor of the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions Department of Health Care Ethics and director of the Center, the event is the first on campus event for the Center.

"Our mission is to foster moral awareness and ethical action in health care practice and leadership," Bennett-Woods said. "This panel discussion is consistent with that mission as well as drawing on the larger mission and values of the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions and Regis University's Catholic Jesuit heritage."

Bennett-Woods added that the panel discussion is also being conducted in conjunction with a weekend-long gathering of the University's health care ethics affiliate faculty.

The affiliate faculty will "explore issues related to patient responsibility and the role of health care professionals," Bennett-Woods said. "Teaching strategies for addressing the moral and practical issues raised by the topic will be addressed."

The panel discussion is free and open to the public.

Regis University, with nearly 16,000 students, comprises Regis College, the College for Professional Studies and Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions. The University is recognized by U. S. News & World Report as a Top School in the West and is one of 28 Catholic Jesuit colleges and universities throughout the United States. For more information about Regis University visit www.regis.edu.