My publications have been cited in dozens of government reports and professional association statements. But my involvement is sometimes even more direct. I have been honored to participate in the drafting of seven professional organization official policy statements.
Because these guidelines and practices are recommended by a major medical society or expert working group, they have a different status from other publications. Healthcare practitioners and institutions pay serious attention to these recommendations and benchmark their own internal policies against them. Professional organization policy statements "make legal norms effective within the healthcare culture."
Uniform Law Commission
I was an active Observer on the Uniform Law Commission's Study Committee for revising the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act. We met regularly during 2020. Since 2021, I have been on the Drafting Committee for the RUHCDA.
During the same period, I was an Observer on the Uniform Law Commission's Study Committee for revising the Uniform Determination of Death Act. Since 2021, I have beenon the Drafting Committee for the RUDDA.
I am pleased to have played a small part in prompting the formation of the UDDA Study Committee I co-authored several articles and made several presentations to the ULC Healthcare and Scope Committees in support of revising the Uniform Determination of Death Act. The Executive Committee approved this in July 2020.
Death Definition and Determination
I am serving as an international consultant to the Death Definition and Determination Project (law and ethics group). This is a multidisciplinary project by Canadian Blood Services, the Canadian Critical Care Society, and the Canadian Medical Association. We began meeting in November 2020 and will submit the final recommendations for publication in June 2022.
International Donation and Transplantation Legislative and Policy Forum
From 2021 to 2022, I served on the Authorship Committee for the International Donation and Transplantation Legislative and Policy Forum (legal chapter).
The purpose of the IDTLP Forum is to create expert, consensus guidance for stakeholders who aspire to link evidence and ethical concepts to legislative and policy reform of organ and tissue donation and transplantation (OTDT) systems. The project is co-hosted by Transplant Québec, Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, and Canadian Blood Services.
Society of Critical Care Medicine Pediatric Taskforce on Contestation of Brain Death Toolkit
In 2022, I was appointed a legal consultant to the Society of Critical Care Medicine Pediatric Taskforce on Contestation of Brain Death Toolkit. The project will create tangible, accessible, broadly-applicable resources and plans of action for hospital personnel and families involved in a BD/DNC contestation case.
American Thoracic Society Policy Statements
I have been privileged to work on three official policy statements by the American Thoracic Society in partnership with other medical societies.These are available here.
Making Medical Treatment Decisions for Unrepresented Patients in the ICU: An Official American Thoracic Society/American Geriatrics Society Policy Statement, 201(10) AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY & CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE 1182-1192 (2020) (with multi-disciplinary committee).
Statement on Futility and Goal Conflict in End-of-Life Care in ICU Medicine, 191(11) AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY & CRITICAL CARE 1318-1330 (2015).
An Official American Thoracic Society Policy Statement: Managing Conscientious Objection in Intensive Care Medicine, 191(2) AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY AND CRITICAL CARE 219-227 (2015).
SEE ALSO Reply to Weber: Treatment Decisions for Unrepresented Patients: ATS/AGS Policy Statement Lacks Sufficient Guidance, 202 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY & CRITICAL CARE (Aug. 17, 2020), doi: 10.1164/rccm.202007-2806LE (with Lynette Cederquist et al.).
National Quality Forum
The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that works to catalyze improvements in healthcare.
The NQF Decision Aids Project helped build consensus around national standards for the certification of decision aids; and identify approaches to measure the quality of decision making and provide guidance to support the development of measures to assess the impact of shared decision making. I was delighted to be a part of the multistakeholder group of experts on this project.
Task Force Recommendations
Dementia and the Ethics of Choosing When to Die, HASTINGS CENTER (in progress).
Clinical Criteria for Physician Aid-in-Dying, 19(3) JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE MEDICINE 259-262 (2015) (with David Orentlicher & Ben Rich).
POLST Legislative Guide (Feb. 2014) (with Legislative Working Group of the National POLST Paradigm Task Force).
American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying
ACAMAID Committee to Evaluate Telemedicine for Aid-in-Dying Requests in the Context of the Coronavirus Epidemic, Telemedicine Policy Recommendations (March 25, 2020).
ABA Commission on Law and Aging
I was an expert for the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging report Who Decides if the Patient Cannot and There is No Advance Directive: Research and Recommendations on Clinical Practice, Law and Policy (2017). The report is available here.
Individual Institution Policies
I have helped draft and edit policies and procedures for more than ten hospitals. These have been on medical futility, DNR, informed consent, surrogate decision making, and other issues.
Citations in Government Reports & Policy Statements
