About us
People
Events
Publications
Resources
Courses We Teach
Helen Stanton Chapple PhD, RN, MA, CCRN, CT
Resident Faculty, Center for Health Policy and Ethics
PhD, Medical Anthropology, 2007, University of Virginia
MA, Clinical Ethics, 1994, University of Virginia
BSN, Nursing, 2008, Creighton University
AD, Nursing, 1987, Shenandoah University
BA, Psychology Major, 1971, George Washington University
Dr. Helen Stanton Chapple
Creighton University Medical Center
Center for Health Policy and Ethics
2500 California Plaza
Omaha, NE 68178
Phone: 402-280-2027
Fax: 402-280-5735
HelenChapple@creighton.edu
Biography
Dr. Helen Stanton Chapple entered nursing school after her experiences as a hospice volunteer. Her subsequent bedside experience has included oncology, research, hospice home care, cardiac and neuroscience critical care. A persistent interest in thanatology and the fate of hospitalized dying patients prompted her to pursue graduate study in ethics and then anthropology, finally resulting in her doctoral dissertation entitled “Dying to be Rescued: American Hospitals, Clinicians and Death.” In that work she used clinical ethnographies to compare how dying occurred in two hospitals, a Catholic community hospital and a teaching hospital, gathering data regarding 212 patients.
Dr. Chapple served on the University of Virginia Health System’s Ethics Committee for 10 years and was an instructor for the School of Medicine’s Introduction to Clinical Ethics course for five years. She served as co-founder and chair of the hospital’s Bereavement Services Committee. She has been an active member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling since 1989, serving as its President in 2007-2008.
She continues to be fascinated by American hospital cultures and how dying occurs within them. Her interests also include rescue as a cultural phenomenon, ritual, palliative care, and pandemic preparations.