“Medical Futility and a Legal Update From Across the Nation” Interview with Thaddeus Pope J.D, of the MedicalFutility.blogspot.com. August 4th, 10am, pacific. Call in to listen live at (347) 945-5152 or listen online at blogtalkradio.com/kindethics.

I am honored to be interviewing the legal expert on futility, Thaddeus Pope J.D, regarding the issue of medical futility. You may not have heard much about this issue but you are going to be hearing a lot about it in the upcoming debate on healthcare reform. Every time President Obama says that we have to stop paying for treatments that will not work, he is talking about medical futility. Or when the politicians discuss using our healthcare dollars wisely, they are talking about medical futility. In healthcare, the number one problem being brought to bioethics committees is dealing with requests for treatments that are medically inappropriate or will not work. I encourage you to listen to this interview because when you or your loved one is in the hospital, this issue will be playing a factor in your treatment decisions. And even more importantly, this issue will be shaping the healthcare plan that is being proposed. Please let me know where you stand on this issue and feel free to call in with your questions.

“Medical Futility and a Legal Update from across the nation” interview with Thaddeus Pope J.D, of the MedicalFutility.blogspot.com and www.thaddeuspope.com. Call in to listen live at (347) 945-5152 or listen online at blogtalkradio.com/kindethics.

Thaddeus Pope is an Associate Professor of Law and member of the Health Law Institute at Widener University School of Law. He came to Widener in 2007, after teaching at the University of Memphis since 2005. Before entering academia, he worked seven years for Arnold & Porter LLP (in Los Angeles and Washington, DC), and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He earned both my J.D. and Ph.D. (in philosophy & bioethics) from Georgetown University.

His current research focuses on:
Medical Futility and other legal obstacles to good end-of-life care
Internal Dispute Resolution mechanisms in healthcare, particularly ethics committees
Tort Law, particularly consent and the assumption of risk doctrine
Public Health Law, particularly the legitimacy of restricting voluntary self-regarding conduct
Normative Jurisprudence, particularly the justifiability of hard paternalism

He teaches the following courses:
Health Law I (Patient Care & Liability), End-of-Life Decisions Law, Health Law II (Finance & Regulation), Bioethics, Torts, Public Health Law, Business Organizations, Health Law Thesis

You can get copies of the articles he has written at:
www.thaddeuspope.com
http://works.bepress.com/thaddeus_pope/
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=180178

For more information about Thaddeus Pope go to: http://thaddeuspope.com/images/Pope_Bio_1p_-_futility_.pdf