Courses and Events

Event Description:  In medicine, suffering matters: encountering suffering and helping patients cope with, and navigate through suffering, are key functions of healthcare. In addition, the concept of suffering plays an important role in many high-stake areas of medical ethics including medical aid-in-dying and/or euthanasia, moral distress/burnout, and policies addressing “futility,” or medically-ineffective treatment. Yet for all its gravity and salience, the concept of suffering is underdetermined. This session will briefly survey the history of “suffering” in American biomedicine. Additionally, the presenter will discuss their own research on suffering and offer recommendations on how clinicians and bioethicists can [1] think more clearly about suffering, [2] respond to suffering ethically, and [3] accompany patients well along the road of suffering and illness.

This interdisciplinary activity is free, however, you must pre-register by 10 AM (ET) on May 22 to be able to attend.