A brochure explaining Advance Directives was given to you or will be given to you upon admission to St. Francis. If you have any questions regarding Living Wills or Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare, click here, or contact your nurse or the social worker.
The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with the moral duty and obligation. (Webster's definition)
People have the right to make their own care decisions. But making those decisions can sometimes be difficult.
Think of medical ethics dilemmas/issues as situations that arise in health care where there is a conflict about what the right thing to do is.
There are many possible issues, such as:
The most common ethical issssues are end of life questions, often involving advance directives.
The purpose of an ethics consult is to aid in the decision making process by bringing together the entire health team - physicians, nurses, chaplains, social workers and others, along with a family or patient / resident so that everyone involved can jointly discuss the situation.
When an individual or family is faced with difficult health decisions, such as:
Anyone, no matter who you are ...can call for help. This includes a family member, physician, nurse or other members of the health care team, patient, or resident. Just pick up the phone and call 218-643-3000 and ask for the administrative person on call.
For more information specific to Minnesota or North Dakota laws regarding advance directives visit:
www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fpc/profinfo/advdir.htm