Controversial Medical Ethics: Death With Dignity and More

June 16th, 2017

7:15am: Check-in, Coffee/tea
7:30-9:45am: Featured Program

 

David W. Kenney, MA, MA, Cand. D.Be.Host: Barry Erdman

About The Presentation

David will talk with us about the very controversial “Death With Dignity” movement. Although the Legislature took no action, the voters of Colorado approved the measure by a wide margin, and it is now State law.  What underlies the widespread public support for the movement, and what accounts for governmental apathy?  David will illustrate the question by addressing the ethical principles and theories which come to bear on this and other salient issues in the public square.

About the Presenter

David Kenney is a Board Certified Hospital Chaplain, now retired as Director of Pastoral Care and Clinical Ethics Consultation at a local community hospital. He still serves as an on-call Chaplain. He is the founder, and a principal in the Clinical Ethics Consultancy LLC, which offers ethics education, training and case consultation to hospitals and physicians. David serves on five different hospital ethics committees, and on three IRB panels at Anschutz Medical Center, and until recently served as a board member of the Colorado Healthcare Ethics Forum. He’s a member of the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities, and has co-chaired its group on Religion, Spirituality and Bioethics. He’s also an Independent Catholic priest and a spiritual director.

David’s initial graduate work was in systematic theology and divinity studies (MA Systematic Theology). He then earned an MA in Bioethics and Health Policy and is now completing his doctorate in the field, at Loyola University Chicago. He teaches medical ethics at Regis University, and also taught for years in the campus-wide ethics program at the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center.

As a chaplain, ethicist, teacher and ordained minister, David has long been deeply involved in the interfaith movement. His scholarly interests outside systematic theology and clinical pastoral care include the possibilities for ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, the study of contemporary rhetoric, and “the art of the conversation.”

Additional Resources

Death with Dignity 

Download Brochure: What is the Colorado End-of-Life Options Act?

Colorado Compassion and Choices Web Site

 

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