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Feb. 16, 2016 – Daniel E. Hall will present the 11th Annual Lehman Medical Ethics Lecture 
at Allegheny College at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24 in Quigley Hall auditorium. The lecture — titled “Patient-Centered Decision Making for Frail Patients Considering Elective Surgery” — is free and open to the public.

Hall is associate professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC Presbyterian; staff surgeon with the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System; and core investigator with the VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion.

Recent evidence demonstrates that frailty is associated with markedly increased risk for mortality and complication after surgery. Hall will review existing data and outline some of its implications for patients, surgeons, hospitals and insurers. He will describe efforts underway in several settings to support patient-centered decision making in the context of frailty.

These efforts include optimized pathways of care, but also consultation to clarify goals and ensure that the choice of surgery is consistent with patient values and goals. Hall and his colleagues have demonstrated a potential survival benefit for this type of intervention and are seeking to replicate it at other sites.

Hall’s lecture is made possible
 through the generous gifts of
 John W. Lehman, M.D., who graduated from Allegheny College in 1954, and Deborah J. Lehman.

For more information, contact Kirsten Peterson, director of pre-professional studies at Allegheny College,
 at 814-332-2845 or kpeterso@allegheny.edu.