Alan Meisel - Curriculum Vitae
CURRICULUM VITAE
Alan Meisel
Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote Professor of
Bioethics, and Professor of Law and Psychiatry
University of PittsburghSchool of Law
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260
Phone: (412) 648-1384; Fax: (412) 648-2648
e-mail:
EDUCATION
1964-68Yale CollegeB.A. 1968 Economics (cum laude)
1969-72YaleLawSchoolJ.D. 1972
EMPLOYMENT
Academic Positions
01/02-04/02Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of ToledoCollege of Law
07/95-Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote Professor of Bioethics
09/95-12/95Professor, University of Pittsburgh Semester at Sea Program
04/85-Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (secondary appointment)
08/82-Professor of Law, University of PittsburghSchool of Law
09/80-08/82Associate Professor, University of PittsburghSchool of Law
12/80-04/85Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (secondary appointment)
09/76-08/80Assistant Professor, University of PittsburghSchool of Law
09/76-12/80Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of PittsburghSchool of Medicine
01/76-05/76Adjunct Professor of Law, DuquesneUniversity
07/74-08/76Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (Law) and Assistant Director of Law & Psychiatry Program, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
05/73-07/74Research Associate and Director of Law & Psychiatry Program, University of PittsburghSchool of Medicine
01/72-06/72Teaching Assistant in Political Science, YaleUniversity
09/70-12/70Instructor in Economics, University of New Haven
Administrative Positions
09/99-Director, Master of Studies in Law Program, University of PittsburghSchool of Law
06/98-06/00Co-Director, Interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Bioethics Degree, University of Pittsburgh
09/96-Director, Health Law Certificate Program, University of PittsburghSchool of Law
07/91-06/16Director, Center for Bioethics and Health Law (formerly, Center for Medical Ethics), University of Pittsburgh
11/86-06/91Co-Director, Center for Medical Ethics, University of Pittsburgh
Other Positions
03/93-05/93President's Task Force on Health Care Reform, Working Group on Ethical Foundations
10/83-03/95Of Counsel to Klett, Lieber, Rooney & Schorling (successor to Berkman Ruslander Pohl Lieber & Engel), Pittsburgh, PA
01/83-07/83Legal Counsel, Western Psychiatric Institute and
05/73-08/76Clinic, University of Pittsburgh
07/82-12/82Assistant Director for Legal Studies, President's
Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Washington, DC
06/72-05/73Associate, Goldstein & Peck, P.C., Bridgeport, Connecticut
06/71-08/71Law Clerk, Goldstein & Peck, P.C.
06/70-09/70Legal Intern, Law Enforcement Division, New York City Department of Consumer Affairs
09/68-06/69Teacher, BridgeportConnecticut Board of Education
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Meisel A, Cerminara K L, Pope T. The Right to Die: The Law of End-of-Life Decisionmaking. New York: Wolters Kluwer (annual supplements 2015 to 2017).
Meisel A & Cerminara K L. The Right to Die: The Law of End-of-Life Decisionmaking. New York: Wolters Kluwer (annual supplements 2005 to 2014).
Meisel A. & Cerminara K. The Right to Die. New York: Aspen Law and Business (3d ed. 2004).
Cerminara K, Meisel A. The Right to Die. New York: Aspen Law and Business (annual supplements 2001-2003).
Meisel A. The Right to Die. New York: Aspen Law and Business (annual supplements 1996 - 2000).
Meisel A. TheRight to Die. New York: Wiley Law Publications (2d ed. 1995).
Meisel A. The Right to Die. New York: Wiley Law Publications, 1989 (and semi-annual supplements).
Appelbaum PS, Lidz CW, Meisel A. Informed Consent: Legal Theory and Clinical Practice. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1987.
Frolik LA, Meisel A, Schieve MA. Pennsylvania Elderlaw Manual 1987.
Benesch K, AbramsonNS, Grenvik A, Meisel A. Medicolegal Aspects of Critical Care Medicine. Rockville, Md.: Aspen, 1986.
Lidz CW, Meisel A, Zerubavel E, Carter M, Sestak R, Roth LH. Informed Consent: A Study of Decisionmaking in Psychiatry. New York: Guilford Press, 1984.
President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1983 (with other commission staff).
President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Making Health Care Decisions: The Ethical Implications of Informed Consent in the Patient-Practitioner Relationship. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1982 (with other commission staff).
Law Review Articles
Meisel A. Antecedent Law and Ethics of Aid in Dying. Quinnipiac L. Rev. 2016; 34:609.
Meisel, A. Introduction to Symposium on Taxation of Nonprofit Healthcare Organizations. Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law 2008; 2:1-5.
Meisel A. Suppose the Schindlers Had Won the Schiavo Case. University of Miami Law Review. 2007:733-762.
Meisel A. From Tragedy to Catastrophe: The Bureacratization of Informed Consent. Yale Journal of Health Law, Policy, and Ethics 2006; 6:101-105
Meisel A. Pharmacists, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and Pain Control. University of Maryland Journal of Health Care Law & Policy 1999; 2:201-232
Meisel A. Managed Care, Autonomy, and Decision-Making at the End-of-Life. University of Houston Law Review 1999; 35:1393-1436
Meisel A. Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Roadmap for State Courts. Fordham Urban Law Journal 1997; 24:801-841
Koch H, Bernat E, Meisel A. Self-Determination, Privacy, and the Right to Die. A Comparative Law Analysis (Germany, United States of America, Japan). European Journal of Health Law 1997; 4:127-143
Meisel A. The Right to Die: A Case Study in American Law Making. European Journal of Health Law 1996; 3:49-74
Meisel A. Barriers to Forgoing Nutrition and Hydration in Nursing Homes. American J of Law and Medicine 1995; 21:335-382
Meisel A,Roth LH. Toward an Informed Discussion of Informed Consent: A Review of the Empirical Studies. Arizona Law Review 1983; 25:265-345, reprinted in Bioethics Reporter 1983; 3:361-442
Meisel A. Rights of the Mentally Ill Under State Constitutions. Law and Contemporary Problems 1982; 45:7-40
Meisel A, Kabnick L. Informed Consent to Medical Treatment: An Analysis of Recent Legislation. University of Pittsburgh Law Review 1980; 41:407-564
Meisel A. The "Exceptions" to the Informed Consent Doctrine: Striking a Balance Between Competing Values in Medical Decision-Making. Wisconsin Law Review 1979; 413-88, reprinted in Bioethics Reporter 1983; 1:819-894
Meisel A. The Expansion of Liability for Medical Accidents: From Negligence to Strict Liability by Way of Informed Consent. Nebraska Law Review 1977; 56:51-152
Meisel A. Fourth Amendment Control of Political Surveillance. University of Pittsburgh Law Review 1973; 35:53-71
Refereed Articles
Fleming T, et al. “Data Monitoring Committees:Promoting Best Practices to Address Emerging Challenges.” Clinical Trials.
Meisel A, Commentary on Case Study of "A Fading Condition." HastingsCenter Report 2014;44(3):16.
Schenker Y and Meisel A. Informed Consent in Clinical Care: Practical Considerations in the Effort to Achieve Ethical Goals. 2011;305(11):1130-1131.
Quill TE, Lo B, Brock DW, Meisel A. Last-Resort Options for Palliative Care. Annals of Internal Medicine 2009; 151:421-424.
Meisel A. The Role of Litigation in End of Life Care: A Reappraisal. HastingsCenter Report Supplement on Improving End of Life Care: Why Has It Been So Difficult? Hastings Center Report Special Report 35 no.6(2005): S47-S51.
Meisel A. Ethics, End-of-Life Care, and the Law: Overview. Journal of Palliative Medicine 2005; 8:609-621.
DeMets D, Fleming T, Rockhold F, Massie B, Merchant T, Meisel A, Mishkin B, Wittes J, Stump D, Califf R. Liability Issues for Data Monitoring Committee Members. Clinical Trials 2004; 1: 525-531.
Meisel A. Quality of Life and End-of-Life Decisionmaking.Quality of Life Research 2003; 21:91-94.
Meisel A, Snyder L, Quill T. Seven Legal Barriers to End-of-Life Care--Myths, Realities, and Grains of Truth. Journal of the American Medical Association 2000; 284:2495-2501, reprinted in Physicians’ Guide to End-of-Life Care (Lois Snyder and Timothy E. Quill, ed. 2003).
Meisel A, Jernigan J., Youngner S. Prosecutors and End-of-Life Decision Making. Archives Internal Medicine 1999; 159:1089-1095.
Meisel A, Kuczewski MG. Legal Myths about Informed Consent. Archives of Internal Medicine 1996; 156:2521-2526, condensed in Resident Physician 1997; 2(3):1
Meisel A. Barriers to Forgoing Nutrition and Hydration in Nursing Homes. American Journal of Law and Medicine 1995; 21:335-382
Pinkus R, Aumann G, Kuczewski M, Medsger A, Meisel A, Parker L, Wicclair M. The Consortium Ethics Program: An Approach to Establishing a Permanent Regional Ethics Network. HEC Forum 1995; 7:13-32
English DE, Meisel A. The Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act. Estate Planning 1994; 21:355-362
Meisel A. A Retrospective on Cruzan. Law, Medicine, and Health Care 1992; 20:340-353
Meisel A. The Legal Consensus about Forgoing Life-Sustaining Treatment: Its Status and Its Prospects. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 1992; 2:309-345
Meisel A. Legal Myths About Terminating Life Support. Archives of Internal Medicine 1991; 151:1497-1502
Meisel A. Lessons from Cruzan. Journal of Clinical Ethics 1990; 1:245-250
Parker LS, Arnold RM, Meisel A, Siminoff LA, Roth LH. Ethical Factors in the Allocation of Experimental Medical Therapies: The Chronic Left-Ventricular Assist Device. Clinical Research 1990; 38(3):537-544
Frader J, Arnold R, Coulehan J, Pinkus RL, Meisel A, Schaffner K. Evolution of Clinical Ethics Teaching at the University of Pittsburgh. Academic Medicine 1989; 64:747-50
Meisel A. Refusing Treatment, Refusing to Talk, and Refusing to Let Go: On Whose Terms Will Death Occur? Law, Medicine & Health Care 1989; 17:221-226
Meisel A. "Dignitary Tort" as a Bridge Between the Idea of Informed Consent and the Law of Informed Consent. Law, Medicine & Health Care 1988; 16:210-218, reprinted in Medicine and the Law, B. Dickens (ed.), London: Dartmouth Publishing Co., 1992.
Lidz CW, Appelbaum PS, Meisel A. Two Models of Implementing Informed Consent. Archives of Internal Medicine 1988; 148:1385-1389, reprinted in Biomedical Ethics, T. Mappes and J. Zembafy (eds.), New York: McGraw-Hill, 3d ed. 1991; Grand Rounds on Medical Malpractice, F. Campion (ed.), Milwaukee: American Medical Association, 1990; Bioetica Para Clinicos, A. Coucheiro (ed.), Madrid: Triacastela Publishing, 1999.
Appelbaum PS, Meisel A. Therapists' Obligations to Report Their Patients' Criminal Acts. Bulletin of the AmericanAcademy of Psychiatry and the Law 1986; 14:221-230
AbramsonNS, Meisel A, Safar P. Deferred Consent: A New Approach for Resuscitation Research on Comatose Patients. Journal of the American Medical Association 1986; 255:2466-2471
Meisel A, Grenvik A, Pinkus RL, Snyder JV. Hospital Guidelines for Deciding About Life-Sustaining Treatment: Dealing with Health Limbo. Critical Care Medicine 1986; 14:239-246
Lidz CW, Meisel A, Munetz M. Chronic Disease: The Sick Role and Informed Consent. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1985; 9:1-17
Appelbaum PS, Schaffner K, Meisel A. Responsibility and Compensation for Tardive Dyskinesia. American Journal of Psychiatry 1985; 142:806-810
Meisel A. Informed Consent in England: Sidaway v. BethlemRoyalHospital. Newsletter of AmericanAcademy of Psychiatry and the Law 1985; 10(1):8-9
Miller RA, Schaffner KF, Meisel A. Ethical and Legal Issues Related to the Use of Computer Programs in Clinical Medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine 1985; 102:529-536
Munetz MR, Lidz CW, Meisel A. Informed Consent and Incompetent Medical Patients. Journal of Family Practice 1985; 20:273-279
Redden EM, Baker DC, Meisel A. The Patient, the Plastic Surgeon and Informed Consent: New Insights into Old Problems. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 1985; 75:270-276
Meisel A. Making Mental Health Care Decisions: Informed Consent and Involuntary Civil Commitment. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 1983; 1:73-88
Lidz CW, Meisel A, Osterweis M, Holden JL, Marx JH, Munetz MR. Barriers to Informed Consent. Archives of Internal Medicine 1983; 99:539-543
Meisel A. Informed Consent to Medical Treatment. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 1983; 37:61-64
Lidz CW, Meisel A, Roth LH. Commentary on Case Study of "Mrs. X and the Bone Marrow Transplant," Hastings Center Report 1983; 13(3):17-18, reprinted in IRB: A Review of Human Subjects 1983; 5(4):6-7, Cases in Bioethics from the Hastings Center Report, 1984
Roth LH, Lidz CW, Meisel A, Soloff PH, Kaufman K, Spiker DG, Foster FG. Competency to Decide About Treatment or Research: An Overview of Some Empirical Data. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 1982; 5:29-50
Meisel A. More on Making Consent Forms More Readable. IRB: A Review of Human Subjects Research 1982; 4(1):9
Kaufmann CL, Roth LH, Lidz CW, MeiselA. Informed Consent and Patient Decisionmaking: The Reasoning of Law and Psychiatry. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 1981; 4:345-361
AbramsonNS, Meisel A, Safar P. Informed Consent in Resuscitation Research. Journal of the American Medical Association 1981; 246:2828-2830
Meisel A,Roth LH. What We Do and Do Not Know About Informed Consent. Journal of the American Medical Association 1981; 246:2473-2477, reprinted in German in Extracta Dermatologica 1982; 6:427-441
Meisel A. Confidentiality and Rape Counseling. Hastings Center Report 1981; 11(4):5-8, reprinted in Social Issues Resources Series 1982; 2(75)
AbramsonNS, Meisel A, Safar P. Resuscitation Research and Human Rights. Topics in Emergency Medicine 1981; 3(2):1-9
Meisel A. The "Exceptions" to Informed Consent--Part I. Connecticut Medicine 1981; 45:27-32
Meisel A. The "Exceptions" to Informed Consent-Part II. Connecticut Medicine 1981; 45:107-109
Lidz CW, Gross E, Meisel A,Roth LH. The Rights of Juveniles in "Voluntary" Psychiatric Commitments: Some Empirical Observations. Bulletin of the AmericanAcademy of Psychiatry and the Law 1980; 8:168-74
Robinson D, AbramsonNS, Grenvik A, Meisel A. Medicolegal Standards for Critical Care Medicine. Critical Care Medicine 1980; 8:524-527
Roth LH, Wolford J, Meisel A. Patient Access to Records: Tonic or Toxin? American Journal of Psychiatry 1980; 137:592-96
Meisel A, Roth LH. Must a Man Be His Cousin's Keeper? Hastings Center Report 1978; 8(5):5-6, reprinted in Biomedical Ethics. New York: McGraw Hill, 1986.
Roth LH, Meisel A. Dangerousness, Confidentiality, and the Duty to Warn. American Journal of Psychiatry 1977; 134:508-11
Roth LH, Meisel A, Lidz CW. Tests of Competency to Consent to Treatment. American Journal of Psychiatry 1977; 134:279-84, reprinted in Edwards RB. Psychiatry and Ethics: Insanity, Rational Autonomy, and Mental Health Care. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1982, pp. 201-211.
Meisel A, Roth LH, Lidz CW. Toward a Model of the Legal Doctrine of Informed Consent: History, Development, and Application to Psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry 1977; 134:285-89, reprinted in The International Library of Essays in Law & Legal Theory--Law and Psychology, Martin Levine (ed.), 1995, and in Insanity and Rational Autonomy: Ethical and Legal Issues in Mental Health Care, Rem B. Edwards (ed.), 1982.
Meisel A, Roth LH. The Child's Right to Object to Hospitalization: Some Empirical Data. Journal of Law & Psychiatry 1976; 4:377-92
Meisel A,Goldstein EH, Ilk C. Rules for PAs Give Some Direction in Uncertain Legal Climate. Hospitals 1976; 50:49-53
Meisel A. Informed Consent - The Rebuttal. Journal of the American Medical Association 1975; 234:615
Meisel A. Rights of the Mentally Ill: The Gulf Between Theory and Reality. Hospital & Community Psychiatry 1975; 26(6):349-53
Meisel A. Due Process in the Civil Commitment of Children (abstract). Psychiatric Spectator 1975; 10(2):56
Meisel A. Treatment of Children Without Parental Consent. Pennsylvania Medicine 1974; 77(6):37-39
Meisel A. Pennsylvania Civil Commitment Procedures: A Practical Guide. Pennsylvania Medicine 1974; 77(3):47-50
Book Chapters
Meisel A. Legal Issues in Death and Dying:How Rights and Autonomy Have Shaped Clinical Practice, in Oxford Handbook of Death and Dying (S. Youngner and R. Arnold eds. 2014) at
Meisel A. End-of-Life Law in the USA, in Le Scienze Biomediche e il Diritto - Biomedical Sciences and the Law (A. Santusuosso, ed. 2010)
Meisel A. Canterbury v. Spence: The Inadvertent Landmark Case, in Health Law and Bioethics. New York: Aspen Publishers, 2009.
Meisel A. End of Life Care, in HastingsCenter Bioethics Briefing Book 51-54. HastingsCenter, Garrison, NY: 2008 (
Meisel A, Jennings B. Ethics, End-of-Life Care, and the Law: Overview and Recent Trends, in Dilemmas at the End of Life, ed by in KJ Doka & B Jennings. Washington, DC: The Hospice Foundation of America, 2005.
Meisel, A. Physician-Assisted Suicide: Shifting the Focus from Means to Ends,in The Case for Legalization of Physician-Assisted Death: The Right to Excellent End-of-Life Care and Choice, ed by TE Quill & MP Battin. Johns Hopkins Press, 2004.
Parker LS, Meisel A, Hogan M. Ethical and Legal Issues in Risk Assessment, Management, and Testing, in Clinical Management of Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer, ed. by V Vogel. Blackwell Science Inc., 2000.
Meisel A. Legal Aspects of End-of-Life Decisionmaking, in End of Life Decisions, ed. by MD Steinberg & SJ Youngner. Washington: American Psychiatric Press, 1998.
Meisel A. Legal Issues in Decisionmaking for Incompetent Patients, in Advance Directives and Surrogate Decision Making in Transcultural Perspective, ed. by H-M Sass, RM Veatch, & R Kimura. Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press, 1998.
Bernat E, Koch H-G, Meisel A. Das "Patiententestament" und der "Stellvertreter in Gesundheitsangelegenheiten: Ein Vergleich des deutschen, amerikanischen und japanischen Rechts, in Yearbook of Law and Ethics. Berlin: Duncker & Humbot, 1996.
Meisel A. Rights of Minors, in Ethics in Emergency Medicine, 2d ed. by KV Iserson, AB Sanders, D Mathieu. Tucson: Galen Press, Ltd., 1995.
Meisel A, Cerminara K. The Right to Die, in Textbook of Critical Care Medicine, ed. by W Shoemaker, A Grenvik, L Thompson, P Holbrook, S Ayres. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1988.
Meisel A. Rights of Minors, in Ethics in Emergency Medicine, ed. by KV Iserson & AE Buchanan. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1986.
Meisel A, Grenvik A, Pinkus RL, Snyder JV. Deciding About Life-Sustaining Treatment: The Role of Hospital Guidelines, in Medicolegal Aspects of Critical Care Medicine, ed. by NS Abramson, K Benesch, A Grenvik, A Meisel. Rockville, MD: Aspen, 1986.
Meisel A. The Right to Die, in Bioethics Reporter. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1985.
Meisel A. Assuring Adequate Consent, in Alzheimer's Dementia, ed. by N Dubler & V Melnick. New York: Humana Press, 1985.
Meisel A. Right to Refuse Treatment: Focus on Mental Health, in Bioethics Reporter (A Meisel, guest editor). Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1984.
AbramsonNS, Meisel A, Safar P. Informed Consent in Resuscitation Research, in Cardiac Arrest and CPR, ed. by PS Auerbach & SA Budassi. Rockville, MD: Aspen Systems Corporation, 1983.
Lidz CW, Meisel A. Informed Consent and the Structure of Medical Care, in President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Making Health Care Decisions: The Ethical and Legal Implications of Informed Consent in the Patient-Practitioner Relationship. 2:317-410. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1982.
Meisel A. The Law of Informed Consent, in President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Making Health Care Decisions: The Ethical and Legal Implications of Informed Consent in the Patient-Practitioner Relationship. 3:193-251. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1982; reprinted in Bioethics Reporter 1983; 2:1127-1132.
Meisel A. Informed Consent: Who Decides for Whom, in Medical Ethics and the Law: Implications for Public Policy, ed. by M Hiller. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger Pub. Co., 1981.
Meisel A. What Would It Mean to Be Competent Enough to Consent to or Refuse Participation in Research? A Legal Overview, in Competency and Informed Consent, ed. by N Reatig. Rockville, MD.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1981.
Letters
Schenker Y and Meisel A. Patients' and Cardiologists' Perceptions of the Benefits of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Stable Coronary Disease (Letter to the Editor). Annals of Internal Medicine. 2011 Mar 1; 154(5):371.
Meisel A. When Will We Learn? IRB: Ethics & Human Research 2010; Sept-Oct 2010 p. 9.
Meisel A. Commentary on “Physician-AssistedDeath in theUnited States:Are the Existing “LastResorts” Enough?HastingsCenter Report 2009; 39(2) 3-4.
Meisel A. The Tort War, Unresolved. New York Times, July 6, 2008 BU 4.
Meisel A. Health Insurance Basics. New York Times, June 7, 1999, p. A28.
Meisel A. To Choose Death, Freely. New York Times, February 25, 1999, p. A26.
Meisel A. Suicide as Insurance. New York Times, April 24, 1998, p. A22.
Meisel A. Yes, Allow Some Medical Study Without Consent. New York Times, November 6, 1996, p. A24.
DeVita MA, Meisel A. Physician-Assisted Suicide or Humane Medicine? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 14, 1996.
Meisel A. There Should be No Surprise Over use of Euthanasia Practices. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 2, 1996.
Meisel A. Proxy Offers Protection (Letter). New York Times, January 31, 1991.
Meisel A. Deciding for Others (letter). HastingsCenter Report 1990; 20(5):48.
Meisel A. Landmark Rulings on the "Right to Die" (Letter). New York Times, March 30, 1985.
Meisel A. Under Persistent Clouds (Letter). New York Times, August 2, 1984.