OMED 8270 End-of-Life Law and Ethics Elective Clerkship
This two-week elective clerkship surveys legal and ethical issues arising at end-of-life. Learners examine advance care planning under the Texas Advance Directives Act, surrogate decision-making, and ethical challenges associated with caring for critically ill patients, including medical futility, withholding versus withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, and artificial nutrition and hydration. Learners reflect on the moral dimensions of end-of-life decision-making and contemplate how treating patients at end-of-life might impact physicians, nurses, and other members of the care team.