Ethics Consultation Service Overview
The Ethics Consultation Service (ECS) provides consultation services to OHSU University Hospitals & Clinics and Doernbecher Children's Hospital, and has a relationship to other OHSU operational entities and to the state-wide community, as may be requested.
Certified ethicists provide consultations, with each consultation staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of trained consultants. In providing consultation services, the consultants carry out the mission of assisting patients, their families and caregivers, and members of the health care team in making difficult ethical decisions. The ECS functions to provide a timely educational and decision facilitation resource. Consultation recommendations are intended to be facilitative and non-binding and are meant to be educational and/or advisory in nature.
The service is available to patients, their families, members of the health care team, and the institution and health system to assist in addressing health care ethical issues. The procedures for requesting and performing consultations are described in this document. The ECS is administered by the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care.
ECS Roles and Responsibilities
The following comprises the seven roles of membership with the ECS: Chair, Vice-Chair, Consultants, Advisory Members, Legal Counsel, and Trainees. There is also a category for Limited Observer that may be used for interested students pursuing an academic interest in Ethics Consultation. Consultants and members of the Ethics Consultation team serve in a voluntary, non-reimbursed role in providing consultation services.