Dear Ethics Section members, It has taken a while to make the change from Committee to Section, but the transition has been completed - and this is the first transition year of the newly created SCCM Ethics Section! As chair during the transition year, I have named 3 people as Section Officers for this initial year, who have been actively engaged with the field of Ethics and who have not previously held ethics leadership roles within SCCM: Mithya Lewis-Newby (Peds), Shahla Siddiqui (Anesthesia) and Jessica Turnbull (Peds). We will have a kick-off meeting with Colette, Donna, me and the 3 section officers in June, and will plan for a meeting for Section membership later this year.
Ongoing projects:
3 proposals for Webinars/Podcasts that are being submitted for future consideration. Topics: ECMO and ethical considerations, Professionalism in the ICU, Resuscitation-related Conversations with ICU patients who have pre-existing "DNAR" orders.
A small workgroup is working on a written update about the 'medical futility' debate - the proposal for this was submitted by me and approved in 2025.
Ethics section members who have an interest in being actively involved should feel free to start thinking about topics for congress proposals, podcasts, webcasts, etc. and feel free to reach out to any of us either via this Connect forum, or via email with specific ideas.
Thank you and best regards!
Preeti R. John
------------------------------
Preeti R. John MD, MPH, FACS, FCCM, HEC-C
Surgeon, Intensivist, Certified Healthcare Ethics Consultant,
Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System,
Clinical Associate Professor, Dept. of Surgery,
University of Maryland School of Medicine,
Baltimore, MD
------------------------------