Symposium: Freedom of Choice at the End of Life
Patients' Rights in a Shifting Legal and Political Landscape

A Justice Action Center Symposium
Friday, November 16, 2012
New York Law School

Cosponsored with the New York Law School Law Review and the Diane Abbey Law Center for Children and Families

Additional support provided by the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging; the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; the Elder Law Section of the New York State Bar Association; Compassion and Choices of New York; and Collaborative for Palliative Care, Westchester/NYS Southern Region

The concept that individuals have the right to choose the manner and time of their death and the right to decline unwanted treatment has been a relatively recent development, as is the law that a person does not lose these rights upon incapacity. Individual rights are not uniformly recognized in practice, however, and there are many limits on when and how they can be enforced. This conference will address a broad range of issues including impediments to honoring those rights, advance planning tools for persons to ensure compliance with their choices and how to enforce them, legislative and decisional developments, surrogate decision-making for patients whose wishes are not known, pain management and palliative care, hospice, aid in dying, ethical dilemmas in decision-making, medical ineffectiveness of treatment (“futility”), concerns of persons with disabilities, the effect of religion on law and policy, and how the media treats these issues.

If you have questions about this program please contact JAC@nyls.edu.

 

VIDEO

Video of this event is available online. Click here to launch the video player.

 

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION

This program was approved for a maximum of six (6) credits of continuing legal education (CLE) credit in professional practice for both transitional and non-transitional attorneys. If you attended the program for CLE credit and would like a copy of the CLE materials, you can access them in PDF format by clicking the following links:

 

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Welcome

  • Peter J. Strauss, Symposium Chair, Adjunct Professor, New York Law School
  • Kathryn L. Tucker, JD, Director of Legal Affairs, Compassion & Choices, Adjunct Professor of Law, Loyola Law School/Los Angeles

Panel I: Taking Control and Preserving Autonomy
This panel discussed the need for advance planning and one’s rights to do so, available advance directive tools: health care proxies, living wills, POLST (MOLST); enforcement of patient rights and emerging issues, trends and new legislation.
Attendees at this panel are eligible for 1 CLE credit in professional practice.

  • Moderator: Peter J. Strauss, Symposium Chair, Adjunct Professor, New York Law School
  • Nadia N. Sawicki, Assistant Professor, Beazley Institute for Health Law & Policy, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
  • Lisa Comeau, Attorney, Appellate Counsel
  • David C. Leven, Executive Director, Compassion and Choices of New York
  • Mary Beth Morrissey, Esq., Ph.D., M.P.H.; President, Collaborative for Palliative Care, Westchester/NYS Southern Region

Panel II: Real Time Critical Issues

This panel explored best practices in End of Life Care: palliative care, pain management, the “double effect”, hospice and transitional care. In addition, the panel will discuss the conflict between family and physician over medically ineffective treatment (“futility”) and the ethics of decision making for persons with dementia.
Attendees at this panel are eligible for 2 CLE credits in professional practice.

  • Moderator: Carlin Meyer, Director, the Diane Abbey Law Center for Children and Families, Professor, New York Law School
  • David Muller, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Dean for Medical Education, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York; Director, Visiting Doctors Program
  • Gabrielle Goldberg, M.D., Assistant Professor, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York; Education Director, Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute
  • Thaddeus M. Pope, JD, Ph.D., Director, Health Law Institute at Hamline University, Adjunct Associate Professor, Albany Medical College
  • Bonnie Steinbock, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, University at Albany/SUNY
  • Paul T. Menzel, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Pacific Lutheran University

Lunch Keynote Speaker
Attendees at this panel are eligible for 1 CLE credit in professional practice.

  • Introduction: Peter J. Strauss, Symposium Chair, Adjunct Professor, New York Law School
  • Honorable Sol Wachtler, former Chief Judge, New York State Court of Appeals 

Panel III: Special People, Special Issues
This panel discussed the issues of concern for people with disabilities and the conflict between organizations dedicated to protecting their rights and end-of-life advocates. The panel will discuss the views of some of the major religion and whether conservative theological values can co-exist with patient choice. Finally, the panel will conclude with a discussion of the quality of medical care provided to prisoners and how their end of life choices are treated.
Attendees at this panel are eligible for 2 CLE credit in professional practice.

  • Moderator: Sue D. Porter, Compassion and Choices
  • Alicia Ouellette, Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Professor of Law, Albany Law School; Professor of Bioethics at Union Graduate College/Mt. Sinai School of Medicine Program in Bioethics
  • Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs, BCC, Adjunct Professor, New York Theological Seminary; Chaplain, New York Presbyterian Hospital - Columbia Campus; Author, A Clergy Guide to End of Life Issues; Blogger: Huffington Post
  • Ann Neumann, Editor, The Revealer, The Center for Religion and Media, New York University
  • Honorable Brian Fischer, Commissioner, New York State Department of Corrections
  • Carl J. Koenigsman, M.D., Deputy Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Plenary Session: How the Media Affect Policy and Individual Rights, From Schiavo to Death Squads

  • Sherrie Dulworth, R.N., Healthcare Management Consultant and Freelance Reporter

Closing Remarks