December 4, 2002 — Timothy E. Quill, M.D., widely known for his writing and lecturing about various aspects of doctor-patient relationship, with special focus on end-of-life decisions, will present the 2002 Max and Sara Cowan Memorial Lectures in Humanistic Medicine at the University of Utah on Dec. 12.

Quill is professor of medicine and psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he directs the Program for Biopsychosocial Studies and the Palliative Care Programs. He also is a primary care internist and palliative care consultant in Rochester.

His first lecture, “Discussing Palliative Care Earlier: So Hard, But So Important,” will be presented at 7:45 a.m. in Classroom A, U medical school, at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds.

He will present a public lecture, “Palliative Options of Last Resort,” at 3 p.m. in the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics Auditorium on the U campus.

Quill has published numerous articles in major medical journals, including “Death and Dignity: A Case of Individualized Decision Making” published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

He is the author of several books on end-of-life, including Caring for Patients at the End of Life: Facing an Uncertain Future Together, and A Midwife Through the Dying Process: Stories of Healing and Hard Choices at the End of Life.

Quill was the lead physician plaintiff in the New York State legal case challenging the law prohibiting physician-assisted death that was heard in 1997 by the U.S. Supreme Court (Quill v. Vacco).

The Cowan lectures, which began in 1985, are made possible by gifts to the U medical school from the late Max P. and Sara Lee Cowan. The Division of Medical Ethics in the Department of Internal Medicine at the U medical school and LDS Hospital planned the 2002 lectures.