Penn State's Dickinson Law Hosts Pennsylvania Judges for Program on "Dementia Diagnosis and the Law"

On Thursday, March 29, 2018 Penn State's Dickinson Law hosted a continuing judicial education program for the Pennsylvania Judiciary, with live attendance in Carlisle by more than 30 judges and with even more judges around the state participating via a live stream.  The program was "Dementia Diagnosis and the Law," organized into three parts:

Part 1:  Medical Science and Dementia

• Welcome by Dean Gary Gildin, Dickinson Law
• Keynote Presentation: Age-Related Cognitive Decline 
  • Krish Sathian, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurology and Chair of the Department of Neurology for Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
• Medical Perspectives – Responding to Legal and Ethical Quandaries of a Diagnosis: Two Brief Vignettes
  • Associate Professor Claire Flaherty, Ph.D., Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Neurology

Panel Discussion and Audience Q & A

Part 2:  Legal Implications of a Diagnosis of Dementia

• Keynote Presentation:  Clinical, Legal and Judicial Judgments of Capacity in Persons with Dementia
  • Daniel C. Marson, Ph.D., JD., Professor Emeritus, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Why “Guardianship Oversight” is a Hot National (and State) Topic
  • Professor Katherine C. Pearson, Dickinson Law, Pennsylvania State University

Panel Discussion and Audience Q & A

Part 3:  Adjudication Exercises, facilitated by Professor Tiffany Jeffers, Dickinson Law, with Dickinson Law students in role plays on issues about capacity to contract, limited guardians, the roles of guardians ad litem and the potential for attorneys or judges to become affected by a neurocognitive disorder.

• Panel Discussion and Audience Q & A

Panel Members included:

• The Honorable Lois Murphy, Judge, Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas
• The Honorable Paula Ott, Judge Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Sally L. Schoffstall, Schoffstall Elder Law LLC, Orefield, PA.
• Laurel S. Terry, H. Laddie Montague Jr. Chair in Law & Professor of Law, Penn State’s Dickinson Law

As the law school's organizer for the event, I know I learned a lot from this dynamic group of seasoned experts who spoke on the challenging legal, medical, and judicial issues that can arise from cognitive impairments associated with aging. The judges in our audiences were fully engaged, offering great comments, questions and experiences.

My special thanks to each and every one of the speakers, facilitators, judges, lawyers and students who made the program so informative.  It was fun to work with the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts on this project and we look forward to additional opportunities to collaborate in the future.  Once I catch up a little on my day job (and maybe on some missed sleep), I'll post again with some additional reactions and thoughts from this program.