Ethics Consultation

Ethical issues related to a specific patient’s care at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) are addressed within that patient’s interdisciplinary team. The patient's attending physician and care manager are responsible for ensuring that the views of the patient, the patient's family and/or legally authorized representative are incorporated in team discussions. If an ethical issue is not resolved by the team, any involved party (including the attending physician) or any team member, the patient or any family member may contact the Donnelley Family Disability Ethics Program for consultation. Consultation is provided by staff members who have been granted privileges for ethics consultation by RIC’s medical executive staff.

Informal ethics consultation: Involved parties may contact an ethics consultant to talk through a clinical ethics concern at any time without involving others on the team or providing specific patient information. Informal consults are not documented in the medical record.

Formal ethics consultation: Formal consultation will include notification of the patient’s attending physician and would typically include a review of medical records as well as interviews/discussions with other team members and/or the patient and family. Patients and/or legally authorized representative will also be informed if their participation is required. Formal ethics consults will be documented in the patient’s medical record.

Clinical ethics consultation at RIC is intended to assist patients, families and health care providers to identify and analyze the nature of the value uncertainty or competing interests that underlie their concern without interfering with the patient-physician-team relationship. There is no charge to patients or staff for ethics consultation at RIC. The ethics consultation process is facilitative and will help to identify a range of morally acceptable options while insuring that all involved parties have had an opportunity to express their concerns.

Hospital Ethics Committee

Many ethical concerns that arise in health care today are not specific to a single patient’s care but involve broad institutional issues or trends. Ethical questions about hospital policies, allocation of resources, values, research, conflicts of interest and disability in society can be brought to the RIC Hospital Ethics Committee. The Hospital Ethics Committee at RIC is a Medical Staff Committee comprised of Donnelley Family Disability Ethics Program faculty, representation from a broad range of RIC staff and community representative(s).

The Ethics Committee shall:

• Promote ethical practices in the care of patients and in the business practices of the hospital
• Serve as a forum for the discussion of specific or general ethical issues that may be identified by hospital staff, patients or members of the Combined medical staff
• Develop and present educational programs for members of the Combined Medical Staff, clinical staff and administrative staff
• Serve as a subcommittee of the Medical Care Committee and shall report to the Medical Care Committee at least once per year

To request a formal or informal Ethics Consultation at RIC, please call 312-238-1119.