Last updated on: 3/5/2009 | Author: ProCon.org

Joseph Fins, MD Biography

Title:
Chief of Medical Ethics Division, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Hospital
Position:
Not Clearly Pro or Con to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
Reasoning:

“I think you know, with the pope’s illness and with Terri Schiavo, we’re brushing up against our mortality, our collective mortality. Modern medicine has a way of preserving life and deluding us into thinking that we’re not going to die. And I think the lesson is we all will, and we have to prepare and have discussions with our loved ones so they’re prepared to make decisions for us.”

CNN: Lou Dobbs Tonight, Mar. 31, 2005
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to end-of-life issues. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to end-of-life.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Chief, Medical Ethics Division, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Hospital
  • Professor of Medicine, Weill Medical College of Cornell University
  • Professor of Medicine in Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University
  • Associate for Medicine, The Hastings Center
  • Physician-Ethicist-in-Residence, HealthCare Chaplaincy, New York City
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
  • Associate Editor, Cancer Investigation
  • Advisory Board Member,Metropolitan New York Ethics Committee Network at the New York Academy of Medicine
  • Member of the Advisory Board, New York Citizens’ Commission on Health Decisions
  • Member, Health and Public Policy Committee of the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians
  • Adjunct Member, Association of the Bar on the City of New York, Health Law Committee
  • Member, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Ethics Committee
  • Fellow, American College of Physicians
  • Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine
  • New York State Attorney General’s Commission on Quality Care at the End of Life1997-1998
Education:
  • Fellowship in General Internal Medicine, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center
  • Residency, Internal Medicine, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center
  • MD, Cornell University Medical College, 1986
  • BA, Wesleyan University, 1982
Other:
  • Appointed by President Clinton to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, July 2000
  • Recipient, Project on Death in America Faculty Scholars Award
  • Recipient, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Visiting Fellowship
  • Diplomat, American Board of Internal Medicine
  • Trustee Advisor, Princeton University Bioethics Forum
  • Recipient, Health Advocacy Award of the New York Society of Patient Representatives
Quoted in:
  1. Should Terri Schiavo's Feeding Tube Have Been Removed?