Title: Medical futility at the end of life as a root cause of moral distress
Time/Date: 12:30 – 1:00 PM EDT, Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Platform: Zoom
Trainee Presenter: Deborah Benevenuto, MD, former C-L Psychiatry Fellow, Yale School of Medicine
Discussant: Shannon Mazur, DO, MA. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, Lead Psychiatrist for the Yale Psycho-Oncology Program at Smilow Cancer Center
Moderator: David Fipps, DO, Senior Associate Consultant in C-L, Transplant, and Bariatric Surgery Psychiatry at Mayo Clinic, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
Description: Dr. Benevenuto will present a complex case that illustrates the interface between C-L psychiatry and ethics. Dr. Mazur will serve as the expert discussant and provide relevant information on how to approach cases where there is serious disagreement between physicians and families surrounding the benefit of continued treatment, highlighting the concern for power struggles for decisional authority, and examine strategies to optimize communication in these ethically fraught situations. The case presentation and facilitated discussion will be followed by a live audience question and answer session moderated by Dr. Fipps. The case conference will provide trainees an opportunity to learn about C-L psychiatry and ethics, and implement C-L knowledge at their institutions. Attendees will learn how to succinctly present a case, observe C-L psychiatrists work through challenging cases, and appreciate management dilemmas that arise in C-L psychiatry.