Image by Jon Tyson via Unsplash
For years, U.S. healthcare facilities have instated ethics mechanisms to counsel providers, patients, families, and others as they grapple with the moral considerations of various medical scenarios; in many of these facilities, these mechanisms exist as ethics consultations and ethics committees. Ethics consultations provide spaces in which people within hospital settings may consider the ethical considerations of decisions during times of medical crisis. Consultations range in subject and severity among cases, and each case is reviewed by appointed ethics consultants who are professionally equipped to assuage the distress and anxieties that impact decision-making.
With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade intensifying the moral considerations of medical abortions, ethics consultants and committees are expected to receive consultation requests from both patients and providers as they adjust to the change in legislation. On this podcast, registered nurse Diana Mason, PhD, RN hosts Virginia L Bartlett, PhD, assistant director of the Center for Healthcare Ethics, and assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, for a discussion about the services ethical mechanisms provide, the various moral considerations that may require consultation, and how the recent change in abortion legislation has affected ethical decision-making in clinical settings.
This podcast first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on August 10th, 2022.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
