At The End of Life: Agency, Role and Responsibilities of the Physician/Advanced Practitioner

At the End of Life: Agency, Role, and Responsibilities of the Physician/Advanced Practitioner is a first-of-its-kind conference in which national experts will explore the complexities that arise when physicians/advanced practitioners are asked to stop machines (ventilators, cardiac devices, and dialysis); prescribe medications that may result in death (physician aid-in-dying, palliative sedation); and support patients who choose to stop eating and drinking (VSED).   While the target audience of this inaugural conference is physicians, advanced practitioners, and attorneys (CME and CLE credits are offered), we welcome professionals of all types for whom this topic is relevant.

At this conference, participation of the audience is very much sought and encouraged. You won’t hear a lot of didactic lectures, and you won’t see a lot of PowerPoints.  Instead, you’ll hear practicing physicians, lawyers, ethicists, and spiritual leaders talk – with each other, and with the audience --  about real cases that present real quandaries.  Since one of the goals of the conference is to set the stage for discussions that will likely continue throughout our careers, there will be time set aside for questions and discussion, and you’ll be encouraged to connect with your colleagues throughout the conference.

Check out the announcement below from the Washington State Medical Association Foundation, or if you just can’t wait, click here to register for the conference.  And remember: we benefit from community when we face these difficult issues in practice, so don’t forget to forward this to your colleagues around the country whom you think should be here, and who might need a little vacation in September in Seattle!

Warmly,

Hope Wechkin, MD, Medical Director - EvergreenHealth Hospice and Palliative Care

425.899.1040(P)  |  425.899.1033 (F)  |  EvergreenHealth MS-09, 12040 NE 128th St., Kirkland, WA 98034

Physicians and advanced practitioners have the privilege and duty to care for patients at the end of life. Sometimes their actions factor into a patient’s death and these cases have clinical, legal, ethical, sociocultural, spiritual, and psychological dimensions that are often challenging for physicians and advanced practitioners to navigate. The conference will set the stage for ongoing discussion of these practices and the issues physicians and advanced practitioners caring for dying patients often face, as both medical technology and patients’ requests for planned death evolve. Click here for course details and to register. This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.