International Rural Aging Project
International Rural Aging Project
Provider Workshops
End-of-Life Care in Rural Settings: Medical, Ethical, and Legal Issues
Convener: Alvin H. Moss, Morgantown, WV, USA
Director, Center for Health Ethics and Law & Professor of Medicine at West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
Date Thursday, June 8
Time 1:30 – 6 p.m.
Location Room 202, Civic Center
Content
The major focus of this workshop will be the challenges to providing end-of-life care to the elderly in rural settings. The workshop will open with an overview of ethical issues in health care of the elderly and then address those specific to rural areas. Barriers to quality end-of-life care in rural settings will then be addressed from the community perspective and the medical and legal perspective.
Introduction
Alvin H. Moss, Morgantown, West Virginia
Director, Center for Health Ethics and Law; Professor of Medicine, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University; Director, Bioethics Program, West Virginia University School of Medicine.
An overview of the goals for the workshop and a presentation of three cases that highlight some of the exceptional challenges to providing end-of-life care in rural settings.
Ethical Issues in Health Care for the Elderly: An Overview
Mark Wicclair, Morgantown, West Virginia
Professor, Philosophy & Adjunct Professor, Community Medicine, West Virginia University; Visiting Professor of History & Philosophy of Science; Visiting Professor of Medicine; Part-time Instructor, Bioethics Program; Adjunct Professor of Medicine and an Associate of the Center for Bioethics and Health Law, University of Pittsburgh.
Topics to be included are competency, advance directives, life-sustaining treatment, physician-assisted death, age-rationing of health care, and long-term care.
Rural Bioethical Issues of the Elderly: How Do They Differ from Urban Ones
Jacqueline J. Glover, Morgantown, West Virginia
Associate Director, Center for Health Ethics and Law, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center West Virginia University.
Topics to be included are access to services, confidentiality and intimacy in a small community, dual relationships of health care providers and patients, and financial burdens on the family.
What’s Stopping Us? The Barriers to Providing End-of-Life Care in a Rural Setting
Malene Davis, Arthurdale, West Virginia
Executive Director, Hospice Care Corporation, Kingwood, WV.
Topics to be included are access to services, care delivery, referrals for end-of-life care, and length of stay.
The Challenges of End-of-Life Care in Rural Settings
Alvin H. Moss, Morgantown, West Virginia
Director, Center for Health Ethics and Law; Professor of Medicine, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University; Director, Bioethics Program, West Virginia University School of Medicine.
Topics to be included are lack of knowledge of health care professionals of palliative care, difficulties with complying with end-of-life statutes in rural areas, and efforts of the WV Initiative to Improve End-of-Life Care to address these challenges.
Case Discussions with Audience Participation
The cases presented will be analyzed from a medical, ethical, and legal perspective, and the outcomes will be presented. Suggestions from the workshop participants will be solicited on ways to improve the system to provide better end-of-life care to the rural elderly.