Lewis Mitchell Cohen

Lewis Mitchell Cohen M.D., F.A.P.M. is a Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, and a clinician-researcher from Baystate Medical Center based in Springfield, MA. Dr. Cohen is the author of a book for the general public (HarperCollins, 2010) entitled, No Good Deed: A Story of Medicine, Murder Accusations, and the Debate Over How We Die, about controversies in renal palliative care. This non-fiction book follows an accusation of murder targeting two renal nurses at Baystate following the decision to discontinue dialysis of a patient.

Dr. Cohen received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency Award to complete the writing, and the book’s subject is derived from his internationally known research related to patients who stop dialysis and his longstanding interest in the religious, spiritual, and bioethical aspects of the decisions to terminate life-support treatments. In the book, Dr. Cohen reviewed a number of different theological perspectives about end-of-life care, including the changing Catholic view, and the new Israeli laws that reflect an evolving Orthodox Jewish view. He also described numerous other healthcare providers who have been formally investigated after providing palliative care.

Dr. Cohen is presently researching a book on the Death with Dignity Movement.

Dr. Cohen has been a member and fellow of the American Psychiatric Association since 1977. He is a member of the American College of Psychiatrists, and also the Maimonides Society in western Massachusetts. He has published over 125 academic articles and chapters in such varied journals as: the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Hastings Report, the American Journal of Kidney Disease, and the Journal of Palliative Medicine.