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
Countdown to National Healthcare Decisions Day 2020 (April 16)
April 16, 2020 is National Healthcare Decisions Day! Please join us in a statewide effort to spread awareness of the importance of advance care planning.
Learn More »The 15th Ethics Committee Training Day (March 2)
An interactive day-long workshop at Dartmouth-Hitchcock for current and prospective members of interprofessional healthcare bioethics committees to gain introductory knowledge of healthcare related ethical issues and to network with colleagues. Individuals not affiliated with healthcare bioethics committees who are interested in ethical issues are also welcome.
Learn More »When Parents With Dementia Don't Realize They Need Help (HealthCentral)
How do you convince your cognitively fragile parents to accept support? How hard do you push? There’s no easy answer, but there are steps you can take.
Read Article »There is Beauty and Joy at the End of Life, Too (The Globe and Mail)
Hospice workers encourage conversations about things that want to be said and heard. We create time for families to connect, laugh and cry together. Mostly, we help create a legacy of the resident that will remain with their family.
Read Article »More Americans Are Dying at Home. Is That a Good Thing? (STAT)
How Americans die has fundamentally changed with advances in medical technology and the ways diseases are treated. For centuries, death commonly occurred in one’s home with care provided by relatives and community members. Yet since the 1960s, the hospital and intensive care unit have become places of passage as people approach the end.
Read Article »Caregivers Find Comfort and Joy in Friendships and Weighted Blankets (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Between shopping, baking, decorating and travel, the holiday season can overwhelm anyone, but if you are caring for someone with dementia, the odds are high you’ll find yourself crying in the bathroom at some point.
Read Article »VEN Ethics Survey Results
View the results of our Ethics Survey for Vermont & New Hampshire conducted in the summer of 2019.
Learn More »