Introduction to Ethics; Supporting Families with Shared Decision-Making

Date: October 5, 2020, 1:00-3:00 pm ET

Presenters: Steven D. Handler, MD, MBE and Wynne Morrison, MD, MBE

CEUs: 0.2 AAA/Tier 1

Description: As medicine has evolved, we have been faced with increasingly difficult decisions concerning how to apply medical care. Bioethics provides us with a framework to help make some of these decisions. This session will discuss medical, social and legal events that have occurred over the past century and how they have contributed to present day value-based ethics system. Examples of how we apply bioethical principles to complex medical problems will be given. 

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the impact of ethics on medical care.
• Describe the concept of “shared decision-making” within the historic framework of parentalism and autonomy. Explore the spectrum of clinician directiveness in medical decision-making.
• Discuss how the concept of “good parent beliefs” can be used to support families facing serious illness.

Steven D. Handler, MD, MBE

Dr. Handler is Professor of Otolaryngology:Head and Neck Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a Pediatric Otolaryngologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) where he has worked for the past 42 years. He has written over 170 articles and chapters and authored/co-authored 4 books. In addition to his interest in teaching clinical Pediatric Otolaryngology, he has a Masters of Bioethics and teaches clinical ethics and professionalism to medical trainees. Dr. Handler is also working to improve the utility and usability of the Electronic Health Record at CHOP.

Wynne Morrison, MD, MBE

Wynne Morrison, MD MBE is a physician practicing pediatric critical care and palliative care at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she directs the Pediatric Advanced Care (palliative care) team. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches in the medical school professionalism and ethics curriculum. Her scholarly work is in the areas of pediatric ethics, end of life care, the medical humanities and patient-family-physician communication.