Research Projects
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I aim in my work to develop ways to improve the aging and dying processes for patients. As a part of this I study legal tools such as advance directives, informed consent statutes, and medical aid in dying programs. I most recently wrote on the legal status of DNR tattoos. I am currently working on legal and ethical issues involved in end-of-life care including medical aid in dying, advance care planning, and how best to initiate end-of-life conversations.
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Publications
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10. (Accepted) “U.S. Medical Aid in Dying Law: Safe and Inaccessible” Annals of Health Law and Life Sciences
9. (Accepted) “The Legal Status of DNR Tattoos” Elder Law Journal
8. (2024) “The Advantages of the Higher Brain Criterion for Determining Death” American Journal of Bioethics, 24(1):1 118-121.
7. (2024) “Assisted Dying Programmes Are Not Discriminatory Against the Dying” Journal of Medical Ethics, 50(2): 115.
6. (2023) “Rethinking Data Collection in Medical Aid in Dying: Quality Improvement as the North Star” (with Sean Riley) Journal of Aid-in-Dying Medicine 1(1): 90-103.
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5. (2023) “U.S. State Laws on the Determination of Death by Neurologic Criteria” (with Nita Farahany and Samuel Thumma; first author) in Death Determination by Neurologic Criteria: Areas of Controversy and Consensus, 275-286. Springer, eds. Ariane Lewis and James L. Bernat.
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4. (2022) "The Unexamined Benefits of the Expansive Legalization of Medical Assistance-in-Dying” (with Sean Riley) Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 19(4): 655-665.
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3. (2022) "Why Standard Drug Treatments for the ‘Death Rattle’ Should Be Discontinued” Journal of Palliative Medicine, 25(2): 180.
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2. (2021) “The Family as a Unit of Care in End-of-Life Conversations” AJOB Neuroscience, 12(4): 283-285.
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1. (2016) “Definitions of Death: Brain Death and What Matters in a Person” Journal of Law and the Biosciences 3: 743-752.
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