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 in advance care planning, including dementia-specific directives and how best to initiate end-of-life conversations.
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Publications
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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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