Music in the Gallery

A second day at the Edinburgh Anaesthesia Festival. Some more lectures in the afternoon at the EICC, including a very interesting talk about a legal case in Canada concerning end of life care and the conflicts that can occur between families and doctors. It's a difficult area - medical science has advanced to the level that there are probably so many things that could technically be done that all the money in the world couldn't pay for it all. At what point does the greater good come into play? Is 'life' to be preserved, whatever the cost? What is the quality of life for a patient only being kept alive by machines? On one hand it is impossible to value a life but, on the other hand, money spent keeping one person alive in a near vegetative state could make a significant difference to many other, more active individuals. Very emotive and difficult questions, with no simple answers. Being a bit better informed can help the level of public debate in what are clearly very political decisions about the distribution of resources.
In the evening it was the formal conference dinner at the RSA at the Mound, starting with a drinks reception (with harpist playing some lovely, and rather eclectic, tunes) and a private viewing of the Beyond Caravaggio exhibition. Sadly no photography allowed in the gallery because of rights issues concerning some of the works on loan from other galleries. Rather than having to consider the loan conditions for each painting, it's just easier for them to enforce a blanket ban. So this was taken in front of a massive poster of one of the paintings in the entrance hall, rather than in the gallery itself. I need to go back to get a proper look at the exhibition - great use of light and shade.