Kirk, Timothy

Professor of Philosophy and Chair

History, Philosophy and Anthropology

Phone: 718-262-5316
Office Location: AC-3D08B
Email: tkirk@york.cuny.edu

Timothy W. Kirk, PhD is professor of philosophy, specializing in healthcare ethics with an emphasis on hospice and palliative care. He also holds an appointment in the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center. Dr. Kirk is a board-certified ethics consultant with MJHS Hospice & Palliative Care, one of the largest hospice and palliative care programs in New York State, and consults nationally with hospice and palliative care organizations.

Together with Bruce Jennings, he is editor of Hospice Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Curriculum Vitae

Office Hours

Day	Time
Tuesdays	1:00-2:00 pm by appointment
I am quite available to meet. Just email me: tkirk@york.cuny.edu

Education

Degree	Institution	Field	Dates
PhD	Villanova University	Philosophy	2004
MA	Villanova University	Philosophy	1998
BA	Bucknell University	History & Philosophy	1993

Areas of Expertise

Healthcare Ethics
Hospice & Palliative Care Ethics
Philosophy of Nursing
Public Health

Publications in Field Of Expertise

Books

Doka, Kennth J; Jennings, Bruce; Kirk, Timothy W.; Tucci, Amy S. (eds). End-of-Life Ethics in a Changing World. : Hospice Foundation of America, 2023. .

Kirk, Timothy W. & Jennings, Bruce (eds.). Hospice Ethics: Policy and Practice in Palliative Care. : Oxford University Press, 2014. .

Articles

Dyer, Veronica; Kirk, Timothy W.. "Engaging the Dignity of Risk in Home Hospice Care." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. 65, no. 2 2022: 242-251.

Swidler, Robert N; Kirk, Timothy W; Scharf, Amy; Voigt, Louis. "The Empire State Bioethics Consortium: A Collaborative Response to Health Care Ethics Challenges of the Pandemic and More." NYSBA Health Law Journal. 27, no. 2 2022: 70-72.

Kirk, Timothy W.. "Nursing, spirituality, and the work of Paley and Pesut." Nursing Philosophy. 20, no 3 2019: e12261: 1-3.

Kirk, Timothy W. & Seigel, Randi. "Decisions Regarding Hospice Care for Isolated Patients." NYSBA Health Law Journal. 21, no. 3 2016: 56-60.

Partington, E. Willis and Kirk, Timothy W.. "Engaging Requests for Nondisclosure During Admission to Home Hospice Care." Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. 17, no. 3 2015: 174-180.

Kirk, Timothy W.. "Staying at Home: Risk, Accommodation, and Ethics in Hospice Care." Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. 16, no. 4 2014: 200-205.

Fewing, Ross, Kirk, Timothy W., and Meisel, Alan. "A Fading Decision." Hastings Center Report. 44, no 3 2014: 14-16.

Kirk, Timothy W. "The Meaning, Limitations, and Possibilities of Making Palliative Care a Public Health Priority by Declaring it a Human Right." Public Health Ethics. 4, no. 1 2011: 84-92.

Kirk, Timothy W. and Margaret M. Mahon on behalf of the Palliative Sedation Task Force of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization Ethics Committee. "National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) Position Statement and Commentary on the Use of Palliative Sedation in Imminently Dying Terminally Ill Patients." Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 39, no. 5 2010: 914-923.

Kirk, Timothy W. and George Luck. "Dying Tax Free: The Modern Advance Directive." Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 39, no. 3 2010: 605-609.

Kirk, Timothy W. "Deactivation of Automatic Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators in Hospice and Home Care Patients at the End of Life." Home Healthcare Nurse. 26, no. 7 2008: 431-437.

Kirk, Timothy W. "Beyond Empathy: Clinical Intimacy in Nursing Practice." Nursing Philosophy. 8, no. 4 2007: 233-243.

Kirk, Timothy W. "Managing Pain, Managing Ethics." Pain Management Nursing. 8, no. 1 2007: 25-34.

Chapters

Coyle, Nessa & Kirk, Timothy W. "Navigating Ethical Discussions in Palliative Care (significantly revised & expanded)." Advanced Practice Palliative Nursing, Oxford University Press. 2023: [in press].

Coyle, Nessa & Kirk, Timothy W. "Advocacy in Palliative Nursing: A Conceptual Model." Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing (5th ed). 2019: 861-867.

Coyle, Nessa & Kirk, Timothy W. "Navigating Ethical Discussions in Palliative Care." Advanced Practice Palliative Nursing, Oxford University Press. 2016: 405-413.

Coyle, Nessa, Kirk, Timothy W. & Doolittle, Matthew. "Communication Ethics." Textbook of Palliative Care Communication, Oxford University Press. 2015: 27-34.

Kirk, Timothy W.. "Confidentiality." Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, Oxford University Press. 2015: 279-284.

Kirk, Timothy W.. "Hospice as a Moral Practice: Exploring the Philosophy and Ethics of Hospice Care." Hospice Ethics: Policy and Practice in Palliative Care, Oxford University Press. 2014: 35-56.

Kirk, Timothy W.. "Timothy Kirk." Philosophy of Nursing: 5 Questions, Automatic Press/VIP. 2014: 117-124.

Monographs

Ballentine, Jennifer, Harrison, Krista Lyn, Kirk, Timothy W.. "Guide to Organizational Ethics in Hospice Care." . 2016: 1-40.

Reviews

"Review of 'Old and Sick in America,' by Muriel Gillick" , . in Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 56, no. 6 (2018):990-991 .

"Review of 'The Best Care Possible,' by Ira Byock." , . in Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 44, no. 6 2012:935-937 .

"Review of 'The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Nursing,' by Betty R. Ferrell & Nessa Coyle." , . In Nursing Ethics, 17, no. 2 2010:271-272 .

"Review of 'Mothers and Midwives: The Ethical Journey,' by Faye Thompson." , . In Nursing Philosophy,7, no. 3 2006:181-182 .

Other

Presented Papers, Lectures, and Exhibitions and Performances

"What Does it Mean to Give and Receive Hospice Care for Unrepresented Patients?" 2021: Columbia University Seminar on Death, New York, NY.

"Ethics, Biopsychosocial Care, and the COVID-19 Pandemic" 2021: Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.

"When No One is Available to Tell Their Stories: Isolated Patients and the 2015 FHCDA Amendment (with Swidler, Robert)" 2017: Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State, Saratoga Springs, NY.

"Organizational Ethics in Hospice Care: Defining Core Values to Drive Practice in a Competitive Market (with Ballentine, Jennifer, Harrold, Joan, & Harrison, Krista Lyn)" 2015: National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization Leadership Meeting, Washington, DC.

"Aligning Ethics and Evidence: Distinguishing “Suicidality” from “Desire for Hastened Death” in Hospice Patients (with Fairman, Nathan)" 2014: American Psychiatric Association, New York, NY.

"Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: Ethical Considerations in Organizational Policy Development" 2014: National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, Washington, DC.

"Responding to a Desire for Hastened Death: A Case Study in Collaborative Organizational Policy Development (with Seigel, Randi)" 2013: Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York State, Albany, NY.

"Developing an Ethical Framework for Approval of Expensive Treatments in Hospice (with Chandler, Mitchell & Klein, Scott)" 2013: National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, Washington, DC.

"From Competition to Collaboration: Re-visioning the Relationship Between Healthcare Systems and the Communities they Serve" 2012: Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York State, Albany, NY.

"Developing and Sustaining Your Organization’s Ethics Committee (with Ballentine, Jennifer & Smith, Patrick)" 2012: National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, Washington, DC.

"Arguments Supporting The Intersection of Palliative Care and Public Health" 2011: American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.

"What Would it Mean to Take a Public Health Approach to Palliative Care?" 2011: American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, Minneapolis, MN.

"Palliative Sedation and Existential Suffering (with Ferrell, Betty)" 2011: National Nursing Ethics Conference, Los Angeles, CA.

"Palliative Sedation and Existential Suffering: An Ethical Conversation" 2011: Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.

"Palliative Sedation for Hospice Patients: An Ethical Conversation" 2010: VITAS Annual Hospice Symposium, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

"Avoiding ‘Too Little, Too Late’: The Ethical Case for Early Integration of Palliative Care Into the Lives of Seriously Ill Patients" 2010: University of Kansas, Wichita School of Medicine.

"Palliative Care for Serious Illness: Supporting the Reconciliation of a Fractured Self" 2010: Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies, Newman University, Wichita, KS.

"Essence at the End of Existence: Is the Concept of ‘Existential Suffering’ at the End of Life Helpful?" 2010: American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, San Diego, CA.

"Truth in Dying: What Does it Mean to ‘Tell the Truth’ in Hospice Care? [Keynote Address]" 2010: International Death, Grief, and Bereavement Conference, La Crosse, WI.

"Palliative Sedation for Hospice Patients: Ethical and Philosophical Issues" 2010: Florida Hospices and Palliative Care, Orlando, FL.

"Caring for Hospice Patients with Implanted Cardiac Devices: Ethical Considerations" 2010: Florida Hospices and Palliative Care, Orlando, FL.

"Deactivation of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators in Hospice Patients: An Ethical Analysis [Grand Rounds]" 2010: Palliative Care & Pain Management Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY.

"Palliative Sedation & Existential Suffering: A Dialogue Between Medicine, Nursing, Philosophy, and Psychology, (with Coyle, Nessa & Rebecca Bigoney & Shannon Poppito)" 2010: American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

"Implementing A Right to Palliative Care: A Progressive Public Health Approach" 2009: American Public Health Association, Philadelphia, PA.

"Translating the Humanities and Social Sciences into Clinical Policy: Palliative Sedation for Existential Suffering (with Coyle, Nessa & Rebecca Bigoney & Shannon Poppito)" 2009: American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, Washington, DC,.

"Developing A Philosophy of Palliative Care: Contributions from, and Implications for, the Philosophy of Nursing [Plenary Address]" 2009: International Philosophy of Nursing Society, Bristol, UK.

"Organizational and Management Perspectives on Automatic Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Deactivation Policy Development, (with Mahon, Mimi & Charles Wellman)" 2009: National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, Washington, DC.

"Palliative Sedation to Unconsciousness for Existential Suffering in Terminally Ill Patients: An Ethical Inquiry [Grand Rounds]" 2009: Department of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, New York, NY.

"Virtual Giving: A Multidisciplinary Analysis of Internet Matching Services for Living Organ Donation, (with Lubke, Donna & Douglas Olsen & Dominic Sisti)" 2008: American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, Cleveland, OH.

"Palliative Sedation to Unconsciousness for Terminally Ill Patients with Existential Suffering" 2008: Combined 12th International Philosophy of Nursing Conference and 15th New England Nursing Knowledge Conference, Boston, MA.

"Deactivation of Implanted Cardiac Devices in Hospice Patients: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Policy Development, (with Ballentine, Jennifer & Nathan Goldstein & Marnie Poncy)" 2007: American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, Washington, DC.

Professional Honors, Prizes, Fellowships

Faculty Excellence Award, York College Student Government Association: 2018, 2016.

Dannheiser Fellowship in Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University: 2009-2011.

Offices Held In Professional Societies

Co-chair, Bioethics Special Interest Group, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association: 2016-2018.

Chair, Ethics Advisory Council, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: 2013-2015.

Vice Chair, Ethics Committee, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: 2010-2012.

Chair, Hospice and Palliative Care Affinity Group, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities: 2008-2015.

Executive Board, International Philosophy of Nursing Society: 2008-2013.

Ethics Committee, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: 2007-2012.

Other Professional Activities and Public Service

President, Empire State Bioethics Consortium: 2022-present.

Trustee, Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State: 2015-2017.

Editorial Board Member, Nursing Philosophy: 2015-2021.

Manuscript Reviewer, Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, Nursing Philosophy, Public Health Ethics, Pain Management, Journal of Palliative Care, Home Healthcare Nurse: 2008-present.

Palliative Care Advisory Board, Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York State: 2012-2014.

2013 Symposium Co-Chair, NYU/VNSNY Hospice Ethics Symposium: 2013.

Member, 2011 Conference Planning Committee, American Nurses Association/Ethics of Caring: 2010-2011.