Whitehouse to head hearing on end-of-life decision making
10:35 AM Wed, Sep 24, 2008 | Permalink
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WASHINGTON - To identify barriers to end-of-life decision-making, and raise awareness about the need for solutions, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse will chair a hearing today before the Senate Special Committee on Aging to hear from medical and legal experts about the ways in which patients are documenting their final wishes, and the role of health care providers in these decisions. "This is a discussion that makes many people uncomfortable - understandably so - but anyone who has lived through the death of a loved one knows how important it can be," said Rhode Island Democrat Whitehouse in a press release. Whitehouse, a former Rhode Island U.S. attorney and attorney general, will share his personal experiences with end-of-life decision-making. Another witness, Dr. Joan Teno, also has a Rhode Island connection. A Brown University medical professor, she planned to share observations from her years of work with Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island. One of her findings: The need for the elderly to plan long in advance for how they are to be treated as they become seriously ill and approach death. WHAT: Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing - Honoring Final Wishes: How to Respect Americans' Choices at the End of Life WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 10:30 a.m. WHERE: 562 Dirksen Senate Office Building WHO: Joan Curran, Chief of Government Relations and External Affairs, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center Joseph O'Connor, Chair, American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging Dr. Diane Meier, Director, Center to Advance Palliative Care; Director, Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute and Professor, Geriatrics, Internal Medicine, and Medical Ethics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Dr. Joan Teno, Associate Director, Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research and Professor, Community Health and Medicine, Brown University; Associate Medical Director, Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island Attorney General W. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General, State of Oklahoma Dr. Pat Bomba, Vice President and Medical Director, Geriatrics, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
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