At the End of Life: Agency, Role, and Responsibilities of the Physician/Advanced Practitioner

Here are four reasons why this two-day conference in Seattle was a real standout from most other end-of-life conferences that I attend. 

1.  It was full of top experts from Randy Curtis to Tim Quill. 

2. Medicine, law, and ethics were only a secondary focus. Yes, they inform and constrain. But the primary focus remained on the physician herself, thus the apt title, "agency, role, and responsibilities of the physician / advanced practitioner."

3. There were few prepared PPT presentations. The few that were scheduled linked the conference themes to art, music, and religion.

4. Most importantly, all the panel discussions were dynamic and included massive engagement among the 250 participants.

Tim Quill, Linda Ganzini, Thaddeus Pope