Review of Draft Code of Conduct of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta

As part of its provincial consultation process, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) asked PHEN to review its Draft Code of Conduct from an ethics perspective and provide feedback to the College. In September 2009, we invited PHEN members, ethics committee members and other interested individuals to submit feedback by email or attend a teleconference meeting to discuss the document. PHEN then compiled this feedback in a summary and submitted it to the CPSA. To read the summary, please click here.

New DVD Presentations for Health Organizations and Ethics Committees

PHEN is pleased to announce the availability of two new DVD resources. Spirituality in Health Care: Dialogue, Decisions and Duties with Daniel Sulmasy, Franciscan Friar and Associate Director of MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, addresses how caring for the spiritual needs of patients goes a long way in nurturing respect and providing opportunities for improved care. Global Health Ethics: Duty, Justice and Responsibility features James Dwyer, Associate Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at the State University of New York. It examines our personal, professional and social responsibilities toward the health of others, and how we can focus more attention on issues of justice that arise at the local, national and global levels. For more info and to purchase these newly developed resources, please click here.

Survey of Alberta Clinical Ethics Committees: Report of Findings

In January and February 2009, PHEN surveyed Alberta's clinical ethics committees/teams/interest groups with the aim of identifying strengths and challenges in the way that clinical and organizational ethics services are delivered in the province. The responses were compiled and used to develop several options for the structure of clinical ethics services in Alberta. This information was outlined in a report that was distributed to Alberta ethics committees and submitted to Alberta Health Services for their consideration as they review the ethics structures and processes in the province. If you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact Amy Middleton at middleton@phen.ab.ca.

Report: When Healthcare Providers Experience Moral Distress

In 2008, PHEN and the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) hosted two joint conferences to create a dialogue around moral distress experienced by health care providers. During the September 2008 conference in Edmonton, attendees participated in The World Café, a unique conversational process that draws on participants’ wisdom and diversity to see new ways to make a difference in their work and lives. These discussions were compiled in a report that can be viewed here.

Ethics in Healthcare: Building Competence For Health Professionals

PHEN is pleased to release this acclaimed 12-DVD set for purchase. Ethics in Health Care provides an intense introduction to important issues in the field from some of its most renowned experts. This tool is recommended for clinicians, health administrators, members of ethics committees and anyone interested in furthering their understanding of compelling moral questions in health care. It can be used for individuals for self-study; by organizations for purchase in bulk to serve as a curriculum to provide training to staff in introductory bioethics; or by libraries seeking public performance rights. For more details, download a brochure here.

The following are recent additions to the PHEN library. These materials are available on loan to all residents of Alberta and PHEN members from across Canada.

The Essential Hospital Handbook: How to Be an Effective Partner in a Loved One's Care

by Patrick Conlon, Yale University Press, 2009

Hospitalization is often as dismaying and frightening for family members as it is for the patient. And despite a heartfelt desire to understand what is happening and to comfort a sick or injured loved one, too often relatives and friends feel helpless and marginalized by the hospital system. This valuable book is the first to assist families and friends of adult patients to navigate the unfamiliar and intimidating territory of the hospital. It spells out in the clearest terms how a family can form a partnership with medical providers to ensure the best patient care possible. The book offers a comprehensive look at emergency rooms, surgery, recovery and the hospice as it takes readers on a tour of the hospital. Such things as living wills, drugs, hospital equipment and even slang are examined to give a well-rounded picture of what people might encounter. While directed at caregivers and families, the book can be just as helpful for patients.

The Ethics of Consent: Theory and Practice

Edited by Franklin Miller and Alan Wertheimer, Oxford University Press, 2009

Consent is a basic component of the ethics of human relations, making permissible a wide range of conduct that would otherwise be wrongful. Consent marks the difference between slavery and employment, permissible sexual relations and rape, borrowing or selling and theft, medical treatment and battery, participation in research and being a human guinea pig. This book assembles the contributions of a distinguished group of scholars concerning the ethics of consent in theory and practice. Part One addresses theoretical perspectives on the nature and moral force of consent, and its relationship to key ethical concepts, such as autonomy and paternalism. Part Two examines consent in a broad range of contexts, including sexual relations, contracts, selling organs, political legitimacy, medicine, and research.

Who Lives?

A play by Christopher Meeks, Lulu.com, 2006

A play that explores the 1960s anonymous citizens committee that determined the life-or-death fate of kidney patients applying for dialysis. This committee of ordinary citizens in Seattle debated over which kidney disease victims to choose for an experiment with something new: a kidney dialysis machine. If the experiment worked, a small number of people would live instead of surely die from kidney failure. But who among the selection pool lives? How will the committee choose? Based on that premise and creating his own committee, playwright Christopher Meeks centers the action on one person, attorney Gabriel Hornstein, who desperately needs what the committee offers. In a review of the play in Los Angeles, the LA Weekly wrote, "Christopher Meeks takes this factual scenario and transforms it into a thought-provoking drama, which relates a timely story about both ethics and morals.... Meeks' script is smartly written.