On the heels of a report on end-of-life care, issued by the Institute of Medicine, a new working group at Duke will host a free panel discussion tonight (Thursday) on the report’s recommendations.
The panel, moderated by Karla FC Holloway, a Duke professor and member of the national committee that issued the report, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Smith Warehouse “Garage,” C105, Bay 4 (114 S. Buchanan Blvd.).
Free parking is available. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions and to tweet using the hashtags #DyingInAmerica and #Duke.
Panelists are Don Taylor, an associate professor of public policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy; Farr Curlin, M.D., the Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities at the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine; and the Rev. Luke Powery, dean of Duke Chapel.
The report, “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life,” states that the prevalence of poor quality end-of-life care should make the issue a national priority.
Holloway, the James B. Duke Professor of English, law and African and African-American Studies, says Taylor and Curlin can address hospital policy issues related to care at the end of life, while Holloway and Powery will speak on the personal experiences of patients and their families during the patient’s final days.
Holloway leads a working group, Bioethics, Law and Literature, part of the newly established Duke Consortium on Social Equity.