Complex Ethics Consultations
Cases that Haunt Us

28 detailed cases explore the ethical reasoning, professional issues, and the emotional aspects of difficult consultations.

Paul J. Ford (Edited by), Denise M. Dudzinski (Edited by)

9780521697156, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 June 2008

274 pages
23.3 x 15.5 x 1.4 cm, 0.47 kg

'The cases that are presented in this marvellous and disturbing casebook include a wide variety of clinical situations that are eerily familiar. … The editors and authors of this book give a nice snapshot of an evolving professional discipline. They illustrate all the ways in which ethics consultation is imperfect, tentative and open to ongoing questioning and discussion. … The cases are presented concisely and give enough information for readers to make judgements about what ought to have been done. The editors even include a useful guide in which cases are organised by theme and suggestions for further study are offered. These features, along with the quality of the case presentations and the personal nature of the reflections, make the book a useful tool for training members of hospital ethics committees. It will also be helpful to others who are interested in understanding the evolving practice of ethics consultation.' New England Journal of Medicine

Clinical ethicists encounter the most emotionally eviscerating medical cases possible. They struggle to facilitate resolutions founded on good reasoning embedded in compassionate care. This book fills the considerable gap between current texts and the continuing educational needs of those actually facing complex ethics consultations in hospital settings. 28 richly detailed cases explore the ethical reasoning, professional issues, and the emotional aspects of these impossibly difficult consultations. The cases are grouped together by theme to aid teaching, discussion and professional growth. The cases inform any reader who has a keen interest in the choices made in real-life medical dilemmas as well as the emotional cost to those who work to improve the situations. On a more advanced level, this book should be read by ethics committee members who participate in ethics consultations, individual ethics consultants, clinicians who seek education about complex clinical ethics cases, and bioethics students.

Foreword Albert Jonsen
Introduction Paul J. Ford and Denise M. Dudzinski
Part I. Starting at the Beginning: Prenatal and Neonatal Issues: 1. Quality of life and of ethics consultation in the NICU Robert Macauley and Robert Orr
2. When a baby dies in pain David Woodrum and Thomas R. McCormick
3. But how can we choose? Richard M. Zaner
4. Maternal-fetal surgery and the 'profoundest question in ethics' Mark J. Bliton
Part II. The Most Vulnerable of Us: Pediatrics: 5. She was the life of the party Douglas S. Diekema
6. Bound by chains Jeffrey Spike
7. Susie's voice Rosa Lynn Pinkus, Stella Smetanka and Nathan A. Kottkamp
8. Access to an infant's family D. Micah Hester
Part III. Diversity of Desires and Limits of Liberty: 9. Helping staff help a 'hateful' patient Joy Skeel, Kristi Williams
10. Ulysses contract Barbara Daly and Cynthia Griggins
11. Misjudging needs Paul J. Ford
12. When the patient refuses to eat Debra Craig and Gerald Winslow
Part IV. Withholding Therapy with a Twist: 13. Listening to the husband Ellen W. Bernal
14. You're the ethicist
I'm just the surgeon Joseph DeMarco and Paul J. Ford
15. Haunted by a good outcome: the case of Sister Jane George J. Agich
16. Is a broken jaw a terminal condition? Stuart G. Finder
Part V. The Unspeakable/Unassailable: Religious and Cultural Beliefs: 17. Adolescent pregnancy, confidentiality and culture Donald Brunnquell
18. Tanya, the one with Jonathan's kidney Tarris Rosell
19. Futility, Islam and death Kathryn Weise
20. Suffering as God's will Kathrin Ohnsorge and Paul J. Ford
Part VI. Human Guinea Pigs and Miracles: Clinical Innovations and Unorthodox Treatment: 21. Amputate my arm please - I don't want it anymore Denise M. Dudzinski
22. Feuding surrogates, herbal therapies, and a dying patient Alissa Hurwitz Swota
23. One way out: destination therapy by default Alice Chang and Denise M. Dudzinski
24. Altruistic organ donation: Credible? Acceptable? Ronald B. Miller
Part VII. The Big Picture: Organizational Issues: 25. It's not my responsibility Mary Beth Foglia and Bob Pearlman
26. Intra-operative exposure to sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: to disclose or not to disclose Joel Potash
27. Why do we have to discharge this patient? Sarah E. Shannon
28. Who's that sleeping in my bed?: an institutional response to an organizational ethics problem Daryl Pullman, Rick Singleton and Janet Templeton
29. Final reflections, activities and resources Denise M. Dudzinski and Paul J. Ford
Index.

Subject Areas: Medical counselling [MQU], Forensic medicine [MMQ], Medical ethics & professional conduct [MBDC]