By all accounts, the Nebraska Coalition for Compassionate Care’s first major public event was a tremendous success. Held at the East Campus Student Union of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, the conference drew 275 participants, representing over 60 Nebraska communities and the neighboring states of Iowa, South Dakota and Kansas.

"Affirming Life in the Face of Death" was co-sponsored by the Nebraska Hospice Association and the Nebraska Medical Association, as well as the Metropolitan Omaha and Lancaster County Medical Societies and the Greater Nebraska Medical Caucus. The diversity of sponsorship was a key to the conference’s success and was reflected in the categories of attendees: physicians (more than 30), nurses, hospice care workers, social workers, educators, and Nebraska legislative aides.

In addition to the plenary sessions, participants selected from eight different breakout sessions (some repeated), on topics ranging from Pastoral and Spiritual Concerns to Ethics of the Clinical Encounter to Pain Management and Issues of Public Policy.

Dewitt C. Baldwin, Jr., MD, graduated from Swarthmore College, Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, Yale Divinity School, Yale Medical School, University of Minnesota and Yale Graduate Schools. He is a diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examiners, American Board of Pediatrics, American Board of Family Practice and is certified by the American Association of Psychiatric Clinics for Children. He is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Nevada Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Northwestern University Medical School, Senior Associate, Scholar-In-Residence and Acting Asst. VP for Ethics, AMA Institute for Ethics. He has published over 150 articles and three books.

Ira R. Byock, MD has been involved in hospice and palliative care since 1978. Immediate Past President of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, he currently directs the new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program, Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care, and The Palliative Care Service in Missoula, Montana. He is founder and President of the Missoula Demonstration Project, Inc., a community-based organization dedicated to the research and transformation of the end-of-life experience. He is author of the book Dying Well and has been a featured guest on many national television and radio programs.

Robert D. Orr, MD, is Director of Clinical Ethics and Clinical Co-Director of the Center for Christian Bioethics at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He received his degree from McGill University, went on to private practice in Vermont for 18 years, honored in 1989 as "Vermont Family Doctor of the Year". From 1989-90 he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. A past chair and member of the Ethics Commission of the Christian Medical-Dental Society, he currently chairs the Council on Ethical Affairs of the California Medical Association and is VP of the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities. He has co-authored or edited two books and 70 articles on ethical issues, end-of-life care, and the ethics consultation process.

Henk ten Have, MD, PhD, studied medicine and philosophy at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, completing doctoral dissertations in pathology and philosophy of medicine. In 1991, he became Chair of the Department of Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, School of Medicine. He is a founding member and secretary of the European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care and has been involved in numerous international research programs. Currently, he directs a European Union funded research project on palliative care that involves seven European countries. He has published more than 200 articles, chapters and books, is on the editorial board of 12 professional journals and is editor-in-chief of Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy.