Jesse Brown VA Medical Center

Ethics

I'm just not sure...
What is the right thing to do?
Should I ask for ethics consultation?

In health care, patients and families often face the difficult question of “what should be done?” The right choice for one patient may be the wrong choice for another. If you’re unsure, or if you can’t agree with your health care team or your loved ones about what’s best, you can ask for an ethics consultation.

Ethics consultants help when there is uncertainty or conflict about the right thing to do. They work with you, your health care team, and your family to clarify the situation. You can talk to them about your values and what you want most from your care or the care of a loved one. Ethics consultants won’t make decisions foryou, but they will help you figure out what is best for your situation.

What kinds of questions can ethics consultation help answer?

• My sister is too sick to make her own decisions. How should I decide what is best for her?
• Our family is confused and upset. We don’t agree about what is the right thing to do for
  our brother’s care. Can you help?
• The treatment team has told us that dialysis could be started but we’re not sure if this
  is what our father would want. Can you help us figure out how to decide?

If you wish to seek help from the Ethics Consultation Service contact:

Yakov Gertsberg, MD
Ethics Consultation Service - Jesse Brown VAMC
Phone: (312) 569-6991