Combining Scholarship and Service

I am in San Francisco, this week, for the American
Thoracic Society International Conference. 
This is the third year in which I was invited to present at this
conference.  And it is always a thrill
and an honor.  After all, I research and
write a great deal about the law concerning end-of-life medicine.  ATS is the main conference for critical care
physicians, those most frequently and directly affected by end-of-life
law.  So, this is a great opportunity to
hear from them in-person.

But I am fortunate to be involved, here, in something even more
exciting.  This is the second year in
which I have been a member of two drafting committees.  One is writing a policy on when clinicians
can exercise a conscience-based objection to providing a healthcare
service.  The other committee is writing
a policy on the prevention and resolution of medical futility disputes.  While these policies will ultimately be
published in medical journals, they have a special status.  As official medical society recommendations,
they will materially shape and guide practice. 

It is rewarding to know that one’s efforts will have a real practical
impact.  I was thrilled to have the New
Jersey Appellate Division cite my work in a published
opinion in 2010.  But I did not know
that would happen when I wrote the article in 2007.  In contrast, I already know that these ATS
projects are destined to be popular and authoritative.