The Section of Medical Ethics is available to help patients, families or caregivers when they are faced with difficult ethical decisions.
Some of the problems for which ethics consultation may
be requested include:
- advance directives
- surrogate decision making
- the refusal of treatment
- conflicts with caregivers
- withholding or withdrawing treatment
- Do Not Resuscitate orders
- other issues perceived as ethical problems
Procedure
An ethics consultation can be initiated by either:
- Placing a call to the Section of Medical Ethics at
extension 8400 (Hematology Clinic) between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday
- Asking a caregiver to initiate an ethics consultation on your behalf
You will be asked about the nature of the ethical problem and how you can best be contacted.
The best initial approach to an ethical conflict is a discussion that can include patients, family members, chaplains, nurses, physicians and other involved health care professionals. These discussions may be organized as a patient care conference.
Download Ethics Consultation Service Brochure (This file uses Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in. Click here if you don't have it.)
