Aid in Dying Ethics Consultation Service
To submit an ethics consultation request, please use this form:
The mission of the Ethics Consultation Service is to provide support for clinicians involved in the practice of medical aid in dying. This support is primarily directed at addressing clinical ethics questions brought up by clinicians involved with patients considering medical aid in dying, as well as aid-in-dying issues that arise among hospice and palliative care agencies, healthcare organizations, grief and bereavement services, and requests from other ethics committees seeking aid from an ethics group with aid-in-dying expertise.
See below the consultations for a list of members of the Consultation Service.
Case #10: Hospice policy mandating two-week enrollment prior to ingesting aid-in-dying medication
Case #9: Conscientious Objections by Non-Clinical Team Members
Case #8: What is the Appropriate Response when a Colleague
is Not following an Aid-in-Dying Law?
Case #7: Complex Social Situations as Confounders to Prescribing Aid-in-Dying Medications.
Case #6: Lost Hospice Eligibility with Aid-in-Dying Medications Held by Patient
Case #5: A patient pursues Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) to be able to meet eligibility for aid in dying
Case #4: Patient Discharge from Hospice Services for Pursuing Medical Aid in Dying
Case #3: Conflict Between Consulting Physicians Regarding Patient Prognosis
Case #2: Navigating Conflict Between Professional Nursing Commitments to Patients and Institutional “Leave the Room” Policies
Case #1: A Patient with Anorexia Nervosa Requests Aid in Dying.
Members of the Aid in Dying Ethics Consultation Service
Co-Chair: Cindy Bruzzese, MPA, MSB, HEC-C, Executive Director & Clinical Ethicist, Vermont Ethics Network, Montpelier, VT, Clinical Ethicist, University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT, Director, Vermont Statewide Task Force on Palliative Care, Co-Chair, Ethics Consultation Service for ACAMAID, July 2024
Co-Chair: Lynette Cederquist, MD, Medical Director of Clinical Ethics Program and Director of Medical Aid in Dying Program, Clinical Professor of Medicine in General Internal Medicine with strong background in hospice and palliative care medicine. University of California, San Diego.
Members:
Jean Abbott, MD, MH. Retired Faculty, Center for Bioethics and Humanities, University of Colorado Health; Current Ethics Committee appointments: Boulder Community Health, TRU Hospice Care. Co-Chair of Ethics Consultation Service for ACAMAID June 2021 – July 2024.
Margaret Pabst Battin, PHD, MFA. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine, Department of Philosophy, Center for Health Ethics, Arts and Humanities, University of Utah.
Paula Goodman-Crews, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., HEC-C, Bioethics Director, Kaiser Permanente, San Diego, CA. Co-Chair, Kaiser Permanent Inter-Regional Medical Ethics Committee. Ethics Advisor, Kaiser Permanent San Diego End of Life Option Program (appointed April 2024)
Constance Holden, RN, MSN. Boulder, Colorado, Ethics Consultation Team & Ethics Committee, Boulder Community Health, Past Chair and member, Ethics Consultation Service for ACAMAID.
Jeanne Kerwin, DMH, HEC-C, Consultant and Educator in Healthcare Ethics, Faculty, SGU Medical School Ethics Training, Retired Manager, Clinical Ethics and Palliative Care for 6-hospital system 2005-2018, Member, Hospital Ethics Committees 1988-Present, Member, PA CQEL/POLST Coalition, Co-Chair of Ethics Consultation Service for ACAMAID June 2021 – July 2024
Alex A. Kon, MD, HEC-C, FAAP, FCCM, Medical Director, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Inpatient Pediatrics, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Affiliate Faculty, Department of Bioethics & Humanities, University of Washington School of Medicine, President, Ethics Consultants, Inc. (appointed March 2024)
Charles F Miller, MD, FACP, FASCO, Medical Oncologist, Internist and Geriatrician. Member, Board of Directors, Hawaii Society of Clinical Oncology. Director of Kaiser Hawaii Aid-in-Dying Program.
Deborah North, MD. Internal Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Care. Former Head of the Hospital Ethics Committee, Attending and Consulting Aid-in-Dying Physician. Mt. Vernon, Washington.
Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, HEC-C, Law Professor and Bioethicist, Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Katalin Eve Roth, JD, MD, FACP. George Washington University Hospital Ethics Committee. Educator in bioethics for residents, medical students. Provider, Medical Aid in Dying. Washington, DC
Yvette Vieira, MMH, HEC-C. Sr Manager, Palliative Care and Bioethics, MAID Program Director, Atlantic Health System, New Jersey. Board Member, NJ Death with Dignity. Board Member, NJ Goals of Care Coalition. Adjunct Professor Medical/Health Humanities, Drew University. Non voting member, Medical Society of New Jersey Bioethics Committee.
Clinical Consultant:
Lonny Shavelson, MD. Director of Education. American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying.
Jurisdictions Represented: CA, CO, DC, HI, MT, NJ, WA, VT.