What Is the Role of Ethics Consultation in the Moral Habitability of Health Care Environments?

Austin, Wendy

doi:10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.6.pfor1-1706

Cited by 12 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…We need a member of the Ethics team to participate to weigh in on the ethical aspects of her care. The idea of the Ethics Expert has been long debated in the field (Agich, 1990 ; Agich, 2005 ; Austin, 2017 ; Cholbi, 2007 ; Crigger, 1995 ; Moreno, 1991 ; Rasmussen, 2006 ; Scofield, 2018 ; Varelius, 2008 ; Watson & Guidry-Grimes, 2018 ; Yoder, 1998 ; Zoloth-Dorfman & Rubin, 1997 ), 3 and it is a complex and far from settled notion. On one end of the spectrum, in a vernacular, ground-level view, is the belief that ethics consultants, as “Ethicists,” have by training and credentials definitive knowledge and information to apply or impart or pronounce on the “ethical issues” in question (Iltis & Rasmussen, 2016 ).…”

Section: The Six “Kinds” Of Expectations (Summary Overview)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Ethics Consultations and the Necessity of NOT Meeting Expectations: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Finder

Bartlett

2022

HEC Forum

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Clinical ethics consultants (CECs) work in complex environments ripe with multiple types of expectations. Significantly, some are due to the perspectives of professional colleagues and the patients and families with whom CECs consult and concern how CECs can, do, or should function, thus adding to the moral complexity faced by CECs in those particular circumstances. We outline six such common expectations: Ethics Police, Ethics Equalizer, Ethics Superhero, Ethics Expediter, Ethics Healer or Ameliorator, and, finally, Ethics Expert. Framed by examples of requests for ethics consultation that illustrate each kind, along with brief descriptions, we argue that while these expectations ought to be resisted for clear and practical reasons, they also create opportunities for CECs to articulate, educate, and ultimately be responsible to the professional demands of clinical ethics work. Recognizing, acknowledging, and at times resisting those expectations thus become key activities and responsibilities in the performance of ethics consultation.

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