Terminal Sedation An Open Discussion .docVIP

National Ethics Teleconference Terminal Sedation August 27, 2002 INTRODUCTION Dr. Berkowitz: Good day everyone. This is Ken Berkowitz. I am an ethicist with the VHA National Center for Ethic in Health Care and a physician at the VA New York Harbor Health Care System, and I am pleased to welcome you all to todays Ethics Hotline Call. By sponsoring this series of Ethics Hotline Calls, the Center provides an opportunity for regular education and open discussion of important VHA ethics issues. Each call features a presentation on an interesting ethics topic followed by an open, moderated discussion of that topic. After the discussion we reserve the last few minutes of each call for our From the Field section and this will be your opportunity to speak up and let us know what is on your mind regarding ethics related topics other than the main focus of todays call. Before we get started, one brief announcement. Just reminding everyone that at the Center our e-mail address has changed. The “vhaethics” remains the prefix on the Outlook system, but after the @ symbol, the new address reads . That is vhaethics@. Please make a note of this for your records. As we proceed with todays discussion on the topic of terminal sedation, I would like to briefly review the overall ground rules for the Ethics Hotline Calls. We ask that when you talk you begin by telling us your name, location and title so that we can continue to get to know each other better. We ask that you minimize background noise, and if you have one, please do use the mute button on your phone unless you are going to speak. And please, and I cant stress this enough, do not put the call on hold, as automated recordings are very disruptive to the call. Due to the interactive nature of the calls and the fact at times we deal with sensitive issues, we think it is important to make two final points. First, it is not the specific role of the National Center for Ethics in Health Care to report policy