Ethics Consultation Service
BCH Resource to help with difficult decisions
Boulder Community Health’s Ethics Consultation Service is an excellent
resource to help you, your loved ones and your treatment team as you reckon
with challenging questions in the midst of hospitalization.
This BCH-provided service is a resource to help you, your loved ones, and
your caregivers face difficult decisions involving:
- Respect for patient and family wishes
- Treatment choices
- Comfort and pain control
- Quality of life
- Religious or cultural understandings
- Advance Care Planning
- End of life issues
If you would like to learn more about the Clinical Ethics Committee or
wish to schedule an ethics consultation service, please call 303-543-3171.
Clinical Ethics Team Commitment
In the course of our care, we will focus on what is right and good and
in the best interests of our patients. We will promote and defend human
dignity and respect the integrity of human life from its beginnings until
death. We will be guided by the highest moral and ethical norms, bu the
law, by the values of our community and by the character and policies
of Boulder Community Health. We invite all those we serve—our patients,
their families and providers of care—to seek an Ethics Consultation
whenever ethical questions arise.
Ethics Consultation Service
Any patient, family member or loved one, physician or hospital staff member
involved in the patient's care may request an ethics consultation.
Simply call 303-543-3171 to request a consultation. Your call will be
returned and you will be asked about your concerns. If you request a consultation
regarding the care of a patient, the consultant will gather additional
information and will then meet with you and other interested parties,
as soon as possible. The consultant will make the arrangements and notify
participants of the time and place of the consultation.
Who can attend the consultation?
The consultant, usually with other members of the consult team, will guide
the process and may invite physicians and other professionals involved
in the case. You may invite anyone you choose. A smaller group often works
best. Ideally, participants should be knowledgeable of the facts and be
aware of the patient's wishes and best interests.
What happens during the consultation?
The consultation begins with a review of the pertinent medical facts and
your consultants will facilitate a discussion of the participant's
views, questions and concerns. They will then try to shed light on the
ethical principals or norms as well as on legal considerations and hospital
policies affecting treatment approaches. The consultants will then try
to clarify the core issues and will make recommendations toward a reasonable
resolution.
The ethics consultants will not make or impose decisions on the participants.
Rather, their role is to enable others to move forward with the benefits
of experienced ethical insight, clarity and compassionate interest in
their concerns.
What you Should Know about Ethics Consultations
- There is no charge for this service
- The recommendations of the consultants will become part of the patient’s
medical record
- The consultation, like all medical treatment, is confidential
- Further consultation may always be held at your request
- The hospital will provide referrals to appropriate outside resources at
your request