Ethics Program

The Ethics Program offers education and support/consult services to faculty, staff and patients at Children’s National Hospital. Our team helps parents, patients and providers to navigate ethical concerns and dilemmas that can present in all aspects of patient care.

The Ethics Program also educates clinicians, staff and trainees on clinical ethics through departmental rounding, monthly ethics education talks, and the yearly Leikin Day, which is a full day of ethics education open to all faculty and staff.

Consultation

Our support and consultation service is available to all patients, faculty and staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All conversations or more formal consults are done in an open and nonjudgmental forum with the goal of uncovering common points of misunderstanding. Our goal is to help those involved in a child’s care to gain perspective on the view of others and to find an approach that is acceptable to all.

Clinical Ethics Committee

The Ethics Program has a Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) consisting of both Children’s National employees and community members with a background in ethics. This committee meets monthly to discuss and advise on consults brought to the consult service and to promote education. Members of this committee include ethicists, physicians and nurses from multiple specialties, social workers, chaplains, a genetic counselor, parent navigator, attorney, child life specialist, psychologist and community members with a background in ethics. This committee meets once a month to review recent cases and further their ethics education.

If you are interested in applying to be a member for the clinical ethics committee, please contact us.

Contact Information

You may contact a member of the ethics committee by email or pager at 202-259-2082.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my concern or dilemma is appropriate for an ethics consult?

The ethics consult service welcomes any and all questions or concerns. A member of the team is always available to talk through how we can be helpful or how another resource may be more useful for you.

Some examples of requests for ethics consults are:

When a recommended treatment goes against a family’s cultural or religious beliefs
When the family or the care team wants to stop treatment on a child for concerns of futility
When a provider is having moral distress about a particular case or policy
When a family or care team disagree about treatment for a child

What happens after I email or page the ethics committee?

Once you reach out to us, a member of the committee will reach back out to you by email or phone. After this initial conversation, if you and the committee member agree that an ethics consultation would be helpful, we will work with you and the other relevant team members involved to arrange a meeting.

You may choose to anonymously request a conversation or consult, in which case you would not be identified as the person requesting the consult.

What happens in an ethics case conference or consultation?

In an ethics case conference, one to three members of the Clinical Ethics Committee meet with members of the patient’s health care team. The ethics team leader will set up a date, time and place and contact those who need to be involved. If the parents are also involved in the meeting, we refer to this as an ethics consultation. Most patients are represented by a parent or guardian, although patients 18 years and older are automatically included. Families are encouraged to bring a support person — a relative, close friend, pastor or anyone they trust.

Together, the group thinks through what is best for the care of the individual child, in the individual situation. We respect the dignity of all and ensure that:

Every person is heard;
Family values are clarified; and
The goals of care are discussed.

The goal is to arrive at an answer to the question, “What are the best choices we have in the care of this child?”

Ethics conversations, case conferences and consultations are often brought back to the monthly CEC meeting for discussion and further recommendations. Formal documentation of ethics consultations are made in the patients chart with recommendations by the consultants and committee.