Center for Bioethics receives $75,000 in grants

The grants will be used to fund a year-long initiative to examine care of the dying and physician-assisted suicide. The Center of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center will join forces with the American College of Physicians for an in-depth examination of the clinical care presently offered to patients as they near death. The project, known as Finding Common Ground, will convene this moth and continue into the summer of 1998. It will conclude with a national conference sponsored by the Center for Bioethics where the panel's findings and recommendations will be presented. The panel will be led by Arthur Caplan -- Director of the Center of Bioethics -- and project director Lois Snyder of the ACP Council for Ethics and Legal Affairs. Panel members will encompass a wide spectrum of professions including physicians, nurses, religious leaders and lawyers. Participants in the one-year initiative -- which is being funded by two grants totaling $75,000 from the Walter B. Hass Family Foundation and the Gerbode Foundation -- will review and revise existing medical and ethical policies on death and dying. They will also assist in the design and implementation of projects intended to improve the dissemination of knowledge among physicians about end-of-life care, to better explain different treatment options to patients and to enhance overall communication with patients and their families. Snyder explained that the project will set a precedent in health care, especially in light of the tremendous interest demonstrated by the courts, legislators and the public in matters pertaining to death and dying. "The panel has the serious responsibility of developing both clinical and policy recommendations for end-of-life care in the 21st century," Snyder said. "Patients and their families need to feel confident that the physicians will provide sensitive, consistent, quality care throughout their lives, especially as death approaches." Caplan said there is an urgent need to discuss the issues surrounding death and dying. "There is tremendous interest in the decision by the Supreme Court to permit individual states to uphold their ban on physician-assisted suicide," he said. He added that ongoing end-of-life activities in state legislatures, and continuing reports that doctors and nurses sometimes engage in practices to hasten the deaths of their terminally ill patients in response to their requests also sparked interest. Caplan explained that "while a ruling has now been made declaring state bans constitutional, it is still imperative that the health professions and society understand exactly what is at state should physician-assisted suicide be decriminalized or legalized in the future." The Hass Family Foundation was established in 1952 to support charitable and cultural programs consistent with the values of founders Walter and Elise Haas. The Gerbode Foundation funds programs which have the potential to significantly impact population, reproductive rights, citizen participation and other issues.