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Ethics Considerations, Guidance and Resources.
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Forms
Forms
Tools to Document Health Care Decisions
Sudden illness or accident can happen to anyone at any time. These forms enable adults to appoint a health care agent and to document their priorities and preferences for future health care needs.
Medical Decision-Making
Medical Decision-Making
Taking Steps Vermont
There may come a time when you are unable to speak for yourself. The best way to ensure that your wishes are known and honored is to talk with those closest to you and your health care providers about what matters most.
Start Taking Steps TodayMedical Ethics
Medical Ethics
Relevant Topics in Bioethics
Medical ethics is a field of study that draws from philosophy, law and medicine. There are four core principles in bioethics that define the ethical obligations that health care providers owe to patients. The application of these principles to individual cases can be helpful in resolving difficult questions that arise in health care.
Learn MorePalliative & End-of-Life Care
Palliative & End-of-Life Care
Information for those living with serious illness
Palliative care is specialized care that is directed at managing the symptoms of those who are living with serious or advanced illness. It is appropriate for individuals who are seeking treatment for their disease, as well as for those who have shifted their goals to a more comfort-directed plan of care.
Learn MoreLatest News & Upcoming Events
When Faced With Death, People Often Change Their Minds
"My patient had done everything possible to avoid being intubated. After a traumatic hospitalization when she was young, she had consistently told her loved ones that she would never again agree to a breathing tube. She had even filled out an advance directive years ago to formalize that decision . . ."
Read More »Reckoning with Anti-Black Racism in Bioethics: Key Takeaways
"The field of bioethics has a moral responsibility to respond to the continued racial and health inequities confronting Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Along with several colleagues, we formed an antiracism task force to interrogate that moral responsibility, assess what bioethics has done so far, explore what bioethics can and should do, and bear witness to the longstanding health and health care injustices, including those exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic....Here, we briefly describe key takeaways from this session, and we encourage readers to listen to the recorded session for more details."
Watch & Read More »What Makes a Good Life in Late Life: Citizenship & Justice in Aging Societies
"A new Hastings Center Special Report calls on bioethics to “broaden its lens” to improve the experience of aging and tackle problems of injustice affecting older adults and caregivers. The report, supported by a generous grant from the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust, features 16 essays by leading scholars and practitioners in architecture and design, bioethics, disability studies, economics, gerontology, health policy, housing studies, medicine, philosophy, political science, and urban planning."
Read More »A COVID Serenity Prayer
We need the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. By Lucy McBride, for The Atlantic
Read More »What Warrants Religious Exemption from Covid Vaccine Mandates?
Faced with mandatory vaccination against Covid-19, students and employees, notoriously including health care workers, have appealed to religion as grounds for exemption.
Read More »Presentation Recordings: VEN Fall 2021 Ethics Education Series
The Vermont Ethics Network Fall 2021 Ethics Education Series dives into ethically complex cases and questions to expand your knowledge of bioethics. This series is offered free of charge and recordings of past sessions are now available here.
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