Emerging Topics in Catholic Health Care Ethics Webinar Series 5

A Clinical Ethics Webinar Series Co-sponsored by the Catholic Health Association in cooperation with
Georgetown University, Loyola University Chicago, Saint Louis University, Australian Catholic University, and Boston College

In our ongoing commitment to provide timely, relevant information about emerging issues for Catholic health care, the Catholic Health Association is offering a monthly series of webinars to address and clarify critical ethical issues in caring for patients and families in Catholic hospitals, long-term care facilities and medical centers nationwide.      

Each 45-minute session will examine the implications of a specific critical issue in clinical and organizational ethics in the context of Catholic Social Teaching and the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (ERDs).

Emerging Topics in Catholic Health Care Ethics Series 5, Session 5
Directives? Or Guidance? How Should Clinicians Approach AMDs?
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
1:00 – 1:45 p.m. ET

Co-sponsored by the Catholic Health Association in cooperation with Georgetown University.

Fifty years ago, California passed the first legislation authorizing "living wills" with the passage of the "Natural Death Act."  Since that time, legislatures in every state have enacted and revised laws pertaining to "Advance Medical Directives."  Among clinicians, however, there remains widespread confusion regarding the operative legal effects of these laws. This presentation aims to clarify legal issues pertaining to AMDs and the "POLST Paradigm," with an overall objective of stimulating discussion regarding how these documents impact clinical practices.  The underlying thesis is that no legislation regarding AMDs, nor any document executed pursuant to such law, relieves clinicians of their ethical responsibilities to provide care in alignment with the four-fold hierarchy of patient good as expressed in the teachings of Dr. Edmund Pellegrino.

Presenter

Nathaniel Blanton Hibner, MTS, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Ethics
Catholic Health Association of the United States

Edward Grant, JD, MA
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics Georgetown University Medical Center

Cancellation Policy

• A refund of the full registration fee will be given for cancellations received through January 20, 2026.
• A refund of 75% of the registration fee will be given for cancellations received after January 20, 2026.

There is no additional charge for substitute registrants.