Ethics (At Your) Service: Pros and Cons of a Broad Understanding of Clinical Ethics Consultation

Abstract: The professionalization and standardization of clinical ethics consultation continues to move forward, notably with the HEC-C certificate program, the UnConference, and the pursuit of accreditation of clinical ethics fellowship programs. However, given the widely disparate levels of staffing measured in full-time equivalent hours at different institutions, it remains an open question whether ethics consultants are performing similar tasks/roles in similar ways. This presentation considers a broad understanding of what ethics consultants can offer requestors, considering tasks and roles such as regular rounding, liaising with family, providing continuity of care, identifying contacts of unrepresented patients, assessing patient capacity, advance care planning, opining on legal duties and responsibilities, etc. These may not be required of all ethics services explicitly, but adequate staffing, case particulars, hospital culture, and external circumstances may result in their becoming an expectation or even a selling point of an ethics service. However, an ethicist-as-fixer or ethicist-as-assistant perception may complicate the notion of clinical ethics as a unique professional endeavor. This presentation will consider the benefits and potential pitfalls of such tasks becoming associated with a clinical ethics service, and propose a framework for understanding how and when such tasks may align with the proper role of clinical ethics.

Aaliyah Eaves – Quest Diagnostics