Addressing Patient-Centered Ethical Issues in Health Care

This study guide provides an unfolding approach to 12 cases—9 involving adult patients, 3 involving minors—on various topics in clinical ethics. The presentation of these complex cases mimics the way that they evolve incrementally in the clinical Patient and family narratives are interwoven with skills-based, reflective study questions that encourage critical thinking on the part of ethics consultants, ethics committee members, students, and other healthcare professionals. The authors--the members of the ASBH Clinical Ethics Consultation Affairs (CECA) Committee--have included tips related to communication and decision making in medicine, including strategies for guiding fruitful patient reviews, elucidating patients' or surrogates' concerns or perspectives, and conducting family meetings. This resource will be useful to all healthcare professionals and students seeking to build their competencies, from the basic skills used to address common ethical issues to advanced consultative skills that can be used to address complex ethical concerns.