In General...

...Many of today's health care decisions are very complex.  They deal with questions of life, death and the quality of life.  An ethical problem may exist when the choice is not clear or when people disagree about what is best for the patient.

Discussing such situations with the Ethics Consultation Service may prove helpful.

Who Can Request a Consultation or Case Review?

Anyone who is directly involved with a patient can seek a consultation on the patient's behalf.  This includes the patient, family members, physicians, nurses and other members of the patient's health care team.

What is an Ethics Consultation?

• a forum for listening respectfully to all individuals involved
• assistance in the clarification of issues
• support for all in struggles to discern the best course of action
• assistance to achieve consensus or an appropriate compromise for those in conflict
• confidential discussion

Ethics consultations are not used in place of appropriate grievance mechanisms or before individuals or teams have tried to work through the issues together.

What is a Case Review?

A case review provides an opportunity to review the case once a decision has been made.  The process used is one of reflection on practice.  The decision points in the case are reviewed and possible options or outcomes explored in order to learn for future cases.  A case review is an educational and quality process, not a performance evaluation.

 

Contact

To arrange for an ethics consultation or case review, please contact the Chairperson of the Consultation/Case Review Subcommittee through the Program Assistant for the Medical Program at (519) 631-2030, Ext. 2827 or email at medicalprogram@stegh.on.