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Medical Ethics
The continuing development of modern knowledge and therapeutic techniques for extending life, treating illness, and altering physiology has created an enlarging spectrum of ethical dilemmas and questions. The need for all participants in the healthcare process for assistance in clarification of issues and for the logical application of ethical principles warrants the maintenance of a standing committee. The Medical Ethics Committee comprises a multidisciplinary group of healthcare professionals and other interested parties who are specifically charged with the responsibility of addressing bioethical issues and dilemmas.
Consultation Services
The Consultation Services subcommittee of the Medical Ethics Committee provides an ethics consultation service on a 24-hour basis to patients or their surrogates, families, representatives, significant others, and those healthcare personnel directly involved in patient care. The service is available in an advisory capacity to identify, analyze, and resolve ethical problems pertaining to patient care by facilitating communication and shared decision-making while maximizing the options for those making difficult ethical decisions and not be seeking to impose moral preferences of its members or particular outcomes on patients, their families, or staff. The primary responsibility for identifying and resolving ethical problems in the clinical setting (conflict of values, principles, or interests) rests with the professional staff in concert with patients, and where appropriate, their families or other representatives. The Medical Ethics Committee is not intended, nor authorized, to provide legal advice on patient care. Legal questions and concerns regarding patient care must be referred to the medical center’s Legal Office. Requests for consultation are encouraged when:
1. The healthcare providers, patient and family members have not resolved an ethical dilemma.
2. There are serious disagreements or disputes in patient care among the different healthcare providers, patient, family, or significant other.
3. The case is unusual, unprecedented, or very complex ethically.
4. The patient is incapacitated and no family members or guardian exists or can be found.
Goals of Ethical Consultations
Provide a mechanism to address ethical issues as they arise in the context of patient care.
Offer ethically justifiable options for the resolution of difficult cases upon request of patients, families, or healthcare providers involved in the case.
Educate those requesting a consultation about the process of ethical decision-making (i.e., appropriate data collection, establishing goals of therapy, determining patients’ wishes, identifying the ethical values involved, outlining a process for weighing relevant patient values, exploring acceptable options, and identifying the appropriate decision maker)
Requesting Consultation Service
A request for ethics consultation may be made by any patient, family member, significant other with a legitimate interest in the patient, or any healthcare provider directly involved in the patient’s care. A representative from the Ethics Consultation subcommittee may be reached through the medical center staff at 314-8473.
Staff Instructions and Directives are posted on the NMCP INTRANET, Medical Ethics.
Last Updated: 17-Jul-2008
