Robert Truog, MD
Executive Director, Institute for Professionalism and Ethical Practice; Senior Associate in Critical Care Medicine and Perioperative Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine, Professor of Anaesthesia (Pediatrics), Harvard Medical School
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Robert Truog, MD
Executive Director, Institute for Professionalism and Ethical Practice; Senior Associate in Critical Care Medicine and Perioperative Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine, Professor of Anaesthesia (Pediatrics), Harvard Medical School
Medical Services
Languages
English
Education
Medical School
University of California at Los Angeles
1980
Los Angeles
CA
Internship
Pediatrics
University of Colorado
1983
Denver
CO
Residency
Pediatrics
University of Colorado
1983
Denver
CO
Residency
Chief Resident
University of Colorado
1984
Denver
CO
Residency
Anesthesia
University of California at Los Angeles
1986
Los Angeles
CA
Fellowship
Pediatric Anesthesia/Critical Care
Boston Children's Hospital
1987
Boston
MA
Certifications
American Board of Anesthesiology (Critical Care Medicine)
American Board of Anesthesiology (Pediatric Anesthesiology)
Publications
A Multicenter Weighted Lottery to Equitably Allocate Scarce COVID-19 Therapeutics. View Abstract
Do Not Attempt Resuscitation in the Operating Room: A Misconstrued Paradox? View Abstract
The neuroethics of disorders of consciousness: a brief history of evolving ideas. View Abstract
Ventilator Allocation Protocols: Sophisticated Bioethics for an Unworkable Strategy. View Abstract
It Is Time to Abandon the Dogma That Brain Death Is Biological Death. View Abstract
Allocating Resources Across the Life Span During COVID-19-Integrating Neonates and Children Into Crisis Standards of Care Protocols. View Abstract
Attitudes towards involving children in decision-making surrounding lung transplantation. View Abstract
Ethical climate in contemporary paediatric intensive care. View Abstract
Seeking Conceptual Clarity in Organ Procurement Following Circulatory Determination of Death. View Abstract
Crisis Level ICU Triage Is About Saving Lives. View Abstract
Categorized Priority Systems: A New Tool for Fairly Allocating Scarce Medical Resources in the Face of Profound Social Inequities. View Abstract
What Should We Do When Families Refuse Testing for Brain Death? View Abstract
Trustworthiness before Trust - Covid-19 Vaccine Trials and the Black Community. View Abstract
Brain Death-Moving Beyond Consistency in the Diagnostic Criteria. View Abstract
Adult ICU Triage During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: Who Will Live and Who Will Die? Recommendations to Improve Survival. View Abstract
Defining Death: Lessons From the Case of Jahi McMath. View Abstract
Cognitive Bias and Public Health Policy During the COVID-19 Pandemic. View Abstract
Understanding Brain Death. View Abstract
Beyond the Apnea Test: An Argument to Broaden the Requirement for Consent to the Entire Brain Death Evaluation. View Abstract
Tracheostomy in the COVID-19 era: global and multidisciplinary guidance. View Abstract
Parents Demand and Teenager Refuses Epidural Anesthesia. View Abstract
Adult ICU Triage During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: Who Will Live and Who Will Die? Recommendations to Improve Survival. View Abstract
Use of Nazi torture device image in digital scholarship article. View Abstract
Triage of Scarce Critical Care Resources in COVID-19 An Implementation Guide for Regional Allocation: An Expert Panel Report of the Task Force for Mass Critical Care and the American College of Chest Physicians. View Abstract
The Toughest Triage - Allocating Ventilators in a Pandemic. View Abstract
Location of Clinician-Family Communication at the End of Life in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Clinician Perception of Communication Quality. View Abstract
Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment and Limiting Overtreatment at the End of Life. View Abstract
Is 'best interests' the right standard in cases like that of Charlie Gard? View Abstract
Commentary: Defining Death: Definitions, Criteria, and Tests. View Abstract
Interprofessional Shared Decision-Making in the ICU: A Systematic Review and Recommendations From an Expert Panel. View Abstract
Of Slide Rules and Stethoscopes: AI and the Future of Doctoring. View Abstract
In support of mitochondrial replacement therapy. View Abstract
Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment and the Relevance of the Killing Versus Letting Die Distinction. View Abstract
How Ought Health Care Be Allocated? Two Proposals. View Abstract
Identifying intangible assets in interprofessional healthcare organizations: feasibility of an asset inventory. View Abstract
Lessons from the Case of Jahi McMath. View Abstract
Brain Death at Fifty: Exploring Consensus, Controversy, and Contexts. View Abstract
Biological, Legal, and Moral Definitions of Brain Death-Reply. View Abstract
Voluntary Euthanasia - Implications for Organ Donation. View Abstract
When a Child Dies in the PICU Despite Ongoing Life Support. View Abstract
An Ethical Claim for Providing Medical Recommendations in Pediatric Intensive Care. View Abstract
The 50-Year Legacy of the Harvard Report on Brain Death. View Abstract
Yes, Families Really Do Respond to More Empathetic Physicians. View Abstract
Conflicts of interest in critical care partnerships: are we living up to our values? View Abstract
Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Institutional Design. View Abstract
Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Conceptual Challenges. View Abstract
Defining Death-Making Sense of the Case of Jahi McMath. View Abstract
Voluntary Stopping and Eating and Drinking Among Patients With Serious Advanced Illness-A Label in Search of a Problem?-Reply. View Abstract
The Concept of Futility: Recognizing the Importance of Context. View Abstract
Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking Among Patients With Serious Advanced Illness-Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Aspects. View Abstract
How Should Clinicians Weigh the Benefits and Harms of Discussing Politicized Topics that Influence Their Individual Patients' Health? View Abstract
Potentially inappropriate liver transplantation in the era of the "sickest first" policy - A search for the upper limits. View Abstract
Pediatric Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death: Canadian Guidelines Define Parameters of Consensus and Uncertainty. View Abstract
The United Kingdom Sets Limits on Experimental Treatments: The Case of Charlie Gard. View Abstract
Expanding the Horizon of Our Obligations in the Clinician-Patient Relationship. View Abstract
Rebuttal From Drs Truog and Tasker. View Abstract
COUNTERPOINT: Should Informed Consent Be Required for Apnea Testing in Patients With Suspected Brain Death? Yes. View Abstract
Patient autonomy and professional expertise in decisions near the end of life: commentary on Francis Kamm. View Abstract
What to Do When There Aren't Enough Beds in the PICU. View Abstract
The DNR Order after 40 Years. View Abstract
Against "Healthy Paternalism" at the End of Life. View Abstract
The price of our illusions and myths about the dead donor rule. View Abstract
Toward Better ICU Use at the End of Life. View Abstract
Medically Inappropriate or Futile Treatment: Deliberation and Justification. View Abstract
The Question of Clinical Equipoise and Patients' Best Interests. View Abstract
The Importance of Deception in Simulation: A Response. View Abstract
Prenatal Decision-Making for Myelomeningocele: Can We Minimize Bias and Variability? View Abstract
Ethical dilemmas with the use of ECMO as a bridge to transplantation. View Abstract
What is a reflex? A guide for understanding disorders of consciousness. View Abstract
Deception and simulation education: issues, concepts, and commentary. View Abstract
An Official ATS/AACN/ACCP/ESICM/SCCM Policy Statement: Responding to Requests for Potentially Inappropriate Treatments in Intensive Care Units. View Abstract
In Favour of Medical Dissensus: Why We Should Agree to Disagree About End-of-Life Decisions. View Abstract
An official American Thoracic Society policy statement: managing conscientious objections in intensive care medicine. View Abstract
Talking with parents about end-of-life decisions for their children. View Abstract
Microethics: the ethics of everyday clinical practice. View Abstract
Medical futility: a new look at an old problem. View Abstract
Should we tell parents when we've made an error? View Abstract
Ethical considerations surrounding lethal injection--reply. View Abstract
Seeking worldwide professional consensus on the principles of end-of-life care for the critically ill. The Consensus for Worldwide End-of-Life Practice for Patients in Intensive Care Units (WELPICUS) study. View Abstract
Family participation during intensive care unit rounds: goals and expectations of parents and health care providers in a tertiary pediatric intensive care unit. View Abstract
Epidemiology of death in the PICU at five U.S. teaching hospitals*. View Abstract
The meaning of brain death: a different view. View Abstract
Apologies in medicine: legal protection is not enough. View Abstract
Physicians, medical ethics, and execution by lethal injection. View Abstract
Measuring the quality of dying and death in the pediatric intensive care setting: the clinician PICU-QODD. View Abstract
Defining death: the importance of scientific candor and transparency. View Abstract
Changing the conversation about brain death. View Abstract
Futile treatments in intensive care units. View Abstract
Family participation during intensive care unit rounds: attitudes and experiences of parents and healthcare providers in a tertiary pediatric intensive care unit. View Abstract
Talking with patients about other clinicians' errors. View Abstract
The dead-donor rule and the future of organ donation. View Abstract
An official American Thoracic Society workshop report: assessment and palliative management of dyspnea crisis. View Abstract
Triage of intensive care patients: identifying agreement and controversy. View Abstract
An official American Thoracic Society/International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation/Society of Critical Care Medicine/Association of Organ and Procurement Organizations/United Network of Organ Sharing Statement: ethical and policy considerations in organ donation after circulatory determination of death. View Abstract
The OHRP and SUPPORT. View Abstract
Palliative care in the ICU: lots of questions, few answers*. View Abstract
Ethical challenges in providing eolc in the ICU. View Abstract
Talking with families about organ donation in the ICU. View Abstract
"Apologies" from pathologists: why, when, and how to say "sorry" after committing a medical error. View Abstract
Apology laws and open disclosure. View Abstract
The luck of the draw: physician-related variability in end-of-life decision-making in intensive care. View Abstract
Deception and death in medical simulation. View Abstract
The ethics of reality medical television. View Abstract
"I was able to still be her mom"--parenting at end of life in the pediatric intensive care unit. View Abstract
"What would you do if this were your child?": practitioners' responses during enacted conversations in the United States. View Abstract
Research ethics. Paying patients for their tissue: the legacy of Henrietta Lacks. View Abstract
Anesthesia does not reduce suffering at the end of life. View Abstract
"Brain death" is a useful fiction. View Abstract
Patients and doctors--evolution of a relationship. View Abstract
Should patients receive general anesthesia prior to extubation at the end of life?. View Abstract
Stepping out further from the shadows: disclosure of harmful radiologic errors to patients. View Abstract
When does a nudge become a shove in seeking consent for organ donation? View Abstract
Rationing in the intensive care unit: to disclose or disguise? View Abstract
Going all the way: ethical clarity and ethical progress. View Abstract
Tolstoy on transparency and authority in end-of-life decision-making. View Abstract
Death and legal fictions. View Abstract
Do-not-resuscitate orders in evolution: matching medical interventions with patient goals. View Abstract
Are there some things doctors just shouldn't do? View Abstract
Neonatal decision-making: beyond the standard of best interests. View Abstract
Cross-cultural adaptation of an innovative approach to learning about difficult conversations in healthcare. View Abstract
Moral fictions and medical ethics. View Abstract
Decapitation and the definition of death. View Abstract
Counterpoint: are donors after circulatory death really dead, and does it matter? No and not really. View Abstract
Brain perfusion scans to diagnose brain death: more than meets the eye. View Abstract
The dead donor rule: can it withstand critical scrutiny? View Abstract
Translating research on communication in the intensive care unit into effective educational strategies. View Abstract
Organ donors after circulatory determination of death: not necessarily dead, and it does not necessarily matter. View Abstract
Is it always wrong to perform futile CPR? View Abstract
The conversation around CPR/DNR should not be revived--at least for now. View Abstract
Screening mammography and the "r" word. View Abstract
Counterpoint: The Texas advance directives act is ethically flawed: medical futility disputes must be resolved by a fair process. View Abstract
Controversies about brain death. View Abstract
The incoherence of determining death by neurological criteria: a commentary on "Controversies in the determination of death", a White Paper by the President's Council on Bioethics. View Abstract
Difficult conversations: improving communication skills and relational abilities in health care. View Abstract
Anesthesiology trainees face ethical, practical, and relational challenges in obtaining informed consent. View Abstract
Assessment of communication skills and self-appraisal in the simulated environment: feasibility of multirater feedback with gap analysis. View Abstract
Anesthesiologist management of perioperative do-not-resuscitate orders: a simulation-based experiment. View Abstract
Intercontinental differences in end-of-life attitudes in the pediatric intensive care unit: results of a worldwide survey. View Abstract
Rethinking the ethics of vital organ donations. View Abstract
Futility: the limits of mediation. View Abstract
The dead donor rule and organ transplantation. View Abstract
An apology for Socratic bioethics. View Abstract
Assumptions and blind spots in patient-centredness: action research between American and Italian health care professionals. View Abstract
A continuum for using placebo interventions in regional anesthesia and analgesia studies. View Abstract
Not euthanasia, simply compassionate clinical care. View Abstract
Consent for organ donation--balancing conflicting ethical obligations. View Abstract
Recommendations for end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: a consensus statement by the American College [corrected] of Critical Care Medicine. View Abstract
Physicians and execution--highlights from a discussion of lethal injection. View Abstract
End-of-life decision-making in the United States. View Abstract
Futility: a concept in evolution. View Abstract
Ethical assessment of pediatric research protocols. View Abstract
Difficult conversations in health care: cultivating relational learning to address the hidden curriculum. View Abstract
Tackling medical futility in Texas. View Abstract
The controversy over artificial hydration and nutrition. View Abstract
Doing research on the ethics of doing research. View Abstract
Brain death - too flawed to endure, too ingrained to abandon. View Abstract
Reflections on love, fear, and specializing in the impossible. View Abstract
Toward interventions to improve end-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit. View Abstract
Proposed quality measures for palliative care in the critically ill: a consensus from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Critical Care Workgroup. View Abstract
Futility--from hospital policies to state laws. View Abstract
Sudden traumatic death in children: "we did everything, but your child didn't survive". View Abstract
Rationing in the intensive care unit. View Abstract
Do differences in the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists positions on the ethics of maternal-fetal interventions reflect subtly divergent professional sensitivities to pregnant women and fetuses? View Abstract
Appropriate use of artificial nutrition and hydration. View Abstract
Improving the quality of end-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit: parents' priorities and recommendations. View Abstract
When a village is not enough. View Abstract
The truth about "donation after cardiac death". View Abstract
Refusal of hydration and nutrition: irrelevance of the "artificial" vs "natural" distinction. View Abstract
End-of-life care: is euthanasia the answer? View Abstract
Organ donation without brain death? View Abstract
New and lingering controversies in pediatric end-of-life care. View Abstract
International differences in end-of-life attitudes in the intensive care unit: results of a survey. View Abstract
The ethics of organ donation by living donors. View Abstract
Variability in end-of-life care--how much is too much? View Abstract
Increasing the participation of children in clinical research. View Abstract
Do-not-resuscitate orders in the surgical setting. View Abstract
Are organs personal property or a societal resource? View Abstract
Soliciting organs on the Internet. View Abstract
Practicing physicians and the role of family surrogate decision making. View Abstract
Informed consent: an end or a means? A response to Miller and Moreno. View Abstract
The ethical conduct of clinical research involving critically ill patients in the United States and Canada: principles and recommendations. View Abstract
Will ethical requirements bring critical care research to a halt? View Abstract
Brain death: at once "well settled" and "persistently unresolved". View Abstract
Perioperative management of diabetes insipidus in children. View Abstract
Perioperative management of diabetes insipidus in children [corrected]. View Abstract
Decision making and satisfaction with care in the pediatric intensive care unit: findings from a controlled clinical trial. View Abstract
Excerpts from the ethics consult report: MT. View Abstract
Spinal muscular atrophy--type I. View Abstract
Role of brain death and the dead-donor rule in the ethics of organ transplantation. View Abstract
Nature of conflict in the care of pediatric intensive care patients with prolonged stay. View Abstract
Results of a clinical trial on care improvement for the critically ill. View Abstract
Conflict in the care of patients with prolonged stay in the ICU: types, sources, and predictors. View Abstract
Attitudes and preferences of intensivists regarding the role of family interests in medical decision making for incompetent patients. View Abstract
Current controversies in critical care ethics: not just end of life. View Abstract
Do-not-resuscitate order after 25 years. View Abstract
Revisiting "Doctor, if this were your child, what would you do?". View Abstract
Organ donation after cardiac death: what role for anesthesiologists? View Abstract
Dying patients as research subjects. View Abstract
A bridge to nowhere. View Abstract
Guidelines for perioperative do-not-resuscitate policies. View Abstract
Respiratory support in spinal muscular atrophy type I: a survey of physician practices and attitudes. View Abstract
Case reports from the Harvard Ethics Consortium. View Abstract
Irene's story. View Abstract
Parental perspectives on end-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit. View Abstract
Recommendations for end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: The Ethics Committee of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. View Abstract
Discontinuing immunosuppression in a child with a renal transplant: are there limits to withdrawing life support? View Abstract
The diagnosis of brain death. View Abstract
'Round-table' ethical debate: is a suicide note an authoritative 'living will'? View Abstract
End-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit: attitudes and practices of pediatric critical care physicians and nurses. View Abstract
Do-not-resuscitate orders: from the ward to the operating room; from procedures to goals. View Abstract
Practical guidelines on the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies. View Abstract
Debate: what constitutes 'terminality' and how does it relate to a living will? View Abstract
Organ transplantation without brain death. View Abstract
End-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit after the forgoing of life-sustaining treatment. View Abstract
Insertion of femoral-vein catheters for practice during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. View Abstract
Pharmacologic paralysis and withdrawal of mechanical ventilation at the end of life. View Abstract
Autopsy consent practice at US teaching hospitals: results of a national survey. View Abstract
Sedation for intractable distress of a dying patient: acute palliative care and the principle of double effect. View Abstract
From the files of a pediatric ethics committee. View Abstract
Futility in pediatrics: from case to policy. View Abstract
Bragdon v. Abbott. View Abstract
Informed consent for research: the achievements of the past and the challenges of the future. View Abstract
Is informed consent always necessary for randomized, controlled trials? . View Abstract
Informed consent and research design in critical care medicine. View Abstract
DNR in the OR: a goal-directed approach. View Abstract
"Doctor, if this were your child, what would you do"? View Abstract
Death: merely biological? View Abstract
How an anesthesiologist can use the ethics consultation service. View Abstract
Informed consent. View Abstract
The end-of-life sequence. View Abstract
An introduction to ethics. View Abstract
Mistrust, racism, and end-of-life treatment. View Abstract
Ethical controversies in pediatric critical care. View Abstract
Is it time to abandon brain death? View Abstract
Treating the patient to benefit others. View Abstract
What needs to be said? Informed consent in the context of spinal anesthesia. View Abstract
Is "informed right of refusal" the same as "informed consent"? View Abstract
CPR-not-indicated and futility. View Abstract
Randomized controlled trials of innovative therapies: are they ethical? View Abstract
Beyond futility to an ethic of care. View Abstract
The benefits of the explanation of the risks of anesthesia in the day surgery patient. View Abstract
The cardiopulmonary resuscitation-not-indicated order: futility revisited. View Abstract
Forgoing medically provided nutrition and hydration in pediatric patients. View Abstract
Progress in the futility debate. View Abstract
Using newly deceased patients to teach resuscitation procedures. View Abstract
HealthCare Ethics Forum '94: pain management and sedation in the terminally ill. View Abstract
Amnesia instead of anesthesia: not always a question of consent. View Abstract
To breathe or not to breathe. View Abstract
Participation of physicians in capital punishment. View Abstract
Randomized controlled trials of potentially life-saving therapies: are they ethical? View Abstract
Life, death, and solid organ transplantation without brain death. View Abstract
Withdrawing mechanical ventilation. View Abstract
Tolerance to isoflurane during prolonged administration. View Abstract
Prolonged administration of isoflurane to pediatric patients during mechanical ventilation. View Abstract
High-frequency oscillatory ventilation in pediatric respiratory failure. View Abstract
Pain, euthanasia, and anesthesiologists. View Abstract
What does "resuscitate" mean in a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order? View Abstract
Barbiturates in the care of the terminally ill. View Abstract
Rethinking brain death. View Abstract
Randomized controlled trials: lessons from ECMO. View Abstract
Anesthesia in neonatal cardiac surgery. View Abstract
The problem with futility. View Abstract
DNR in the OR: further questions. View Abstract
Triage in the ICU. View Abstract
DNR in the OR. View Abstract
Brain death and the termination of life support: case and analysis. View Abstract
Locked-in syndrome and ethics committee deliberation. View Abstract
Can empirical data establish futility? View Abstract
The "ethics of evidence" and randomized controlled trials. View Abstract
Beyond futility: commentary. View Abstract
A prospective analysis of cholestasis in infants supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. View Abstract
Changes in the pharmacodynamic response to fentanyl in neonates during continuous infusion. View Abstract
Ethical issues in pediatric anesthesia. View Abstract
"Do-not-resuscitate" orders during anesthesia and surgery. View Abstract
Should newborns receive analgesics for pain? View Abstract
Sedation before ventilator withdrawal: medical and ethical considerations. View Abstract
Tolerance and dependence in neonates sedated with fentanyl during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. View Abstract
Allowing to die. View Abstract
Brain death and the anencephalic newborn. View Abstract
Repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. View Abstract
Fetal pulmonary vasodilation by histamine: response to H1 and H2 stimulation. View Abstract
Inorganic fluoride and prolonged isoflurane anesthesia in the intensive care unit. View Abstract
Anencephalic newborns. Can organs be transplanted before brain death? View Abstract
Exposure to di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in infants receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. View Abstract
Management of pain in the postoperative neonate. View Abstract
Relationship between the neurotoxicity and phospholipase A activity of beta-bungarotoxin. View Abstract