Who will make your healthcare decisions if you cannot?  Are you prepared?
Dec 08, 2022
Bud Hammes
Who will make your healthcare decisions if you cannot? Are you prepared?

 

Dr Hammes served has the Director of Medical Humanities and Respecting Choices for the Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, WI from 1984 until 2018.  In this position he provided education programs for house staff, as well as medical, nursing and physician assistant students.  He also provided in-services and workshops for the medical staff, nursing staff, social workers, and the pastoral care department.  Dr. Hammes chaired both the Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee.  For the institutional ethics committee, he served the role of ethics consultant.   From 2018 to 2020, Dr. Hammes served as the Executive Director of Respecting Choices which had become a free standing not-for-profit.   Currently Dr. Hammes is the Executive Director Emeritus of Respecting Choices.  

 

Dr. Hammes’s work has been primarily focused on improving care at the end-of-life.   To this end he developed institutional policies and practices, staff education, and patient/community education with a special focus on advance care planning.   This work resulted in two nationally recognized programs on advance care planning:  If I Only Knew… and Respecting Choices®.  He has authored or coauthored 43 articles and book chapters that are focused on clinical ethics, advance care planning, and end-of-life issues. 

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