Difficult Patients, Difficult Families and Difficult Health Care Providers: Ethical and Management Issues

22^nd Annual Medical Ethics Update 2013 and the 30th Annual Messer Lecture

The 30^th Annual Messer Lecture: “What Makes ‘Difficult’ Patients Difficult?”

Presentation by Michael W. Kahn, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School - Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Full Day Schedule of Events

8:00-8:45 a.m.                    Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:45-9:00 a.m.                    Introductions

9:00-10:00 a.m.                 Messer Lecture

What Makes ‘Difficult’ Patients Difficult?

• Michael W. Kahn, MD – Harvard Medical School, Boston

10:00-11:00 a.m.

Challenges of Talking Regarding End of Life Topics with Difficult Patients

• Robert Arnold, MD – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

11:00-12:00 p.m.  Panel Discussion and Participation

• Robert Arnold, MD – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Alexander J. Ciocca, JD, MPH – UPMC Legal Counsel
• Michael W. Kahn, MD – Harvard Medical School
• Ellen Ormond, PhD – University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry

12:00-1:00 p.m.                 Lunch

1:00-2:00 p.m.                   Break Out Sessions

Dismissing (“Firing”) Patients for Health-Based Reasons

• Mark Wicclair, PhD – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dealing with Difficult Families

• Elizabeth Chaitin, MSW, MA, DHCE – University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

2:15-3:15 p.m.                   Break Out Sessions

Responding to Requests by Patients or Surrogates for Potentially Inappropriate Treatment

• Robert Arnold, MD – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Douglas B. White, MD, MAS – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Mark Wicclair, PhD – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dialysis and Difficult Patients

• Margaret E. Reidy, MD – University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
• Jack Rozel, MD, MSL – Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC
• Mary Ann Sevick, ScD, RN – University of Pittsburgh Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
• Stella Smetanka, JD – University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Managing Challenging Families, A Multi-Disciplinary, Patient and Family-Centered Model

• Elizabeth Lewis, M.Ed. – Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
• Jonathan R. Pletcher, MD - Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
• Heather Rommes, BS – Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

3:30-4:30 p.m.                   Break Out Sessions

Health Care Providers as Patients

• Gary Fischer, MD – University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine
• Frank Kroboth, MD – University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine

Communicating with Patients Following a Bad Outcome

• Matthew P. Holtzman, MD – UPMC Cancer Center
• Edward Sandy, II, MD, MBA – Magee Women’s Hospital of UPMC 
• Chaton T. Turner, JD – UPMC

Addicted and in Pain: Now What?

• Julie Childers, MD, MS – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Jordon F. Karp, MD – Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC
• Melissa McNeil, MD, MPH – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Elizabeth Chaitin, MSW, MA, DHCE – UPMC