Will Your Healthcare Organization Be Ready? Ethics Services Partnerships Offer Clarity

What was it like to be in the hospital in 1925? What medicine was available? What techniques, approaches, and knowledge were considered standard practice? This was before organ donation, before life support, and even before antibiotics were widely accessible.

New Technologies, New Questions

Think about how much medicine has changed in the past hundred years. Or even the past twenty. Medicine and technology continue to evolve – bringing new ways to provide care and new advancements that can transform lives.

Now ask yourself: What will medicine look like in 2125? In 2050? Even next year?

Many hospitals are recognizing that new technologies and advances in medicine bring new and complex questions. From the integration of artificial intelligence into the clinic to new organ procurement methods like TA-NRP-DCD, medicine is becoming more sophisticated – and so are the ethical dilemmas it creates. Hospitals want to be ready to face these challenges with insight, expertise, compassion, and a firm grounding in their mission to care for people.

Clinical Ethics Consultants

These are the kinds of questions often addressed by hospital medical ethics committees and in real time by clinical ethics consultants. Just as we expect healthcare professionals to be experts in medicine, we must ask: where do they turn for expertise in ethics?

This is where the Center for Practical Bioethics comes in. With a deeply experienced team, the Center supports hospitals in building and strengthening their ethics services, enhancing healthcare professionals’ competence in ethics, and preparing health systems to meet the evolving questions of modern medicine.

Your Partner in Ethics

Recently, two organizations have taken proactive steps to do just that. Midland Health in Midland, Texas, and Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Lawrence, Kansas, have both partnered with the Center to expand their medical ethics capabilities.

Midland Health identified the need for a dedicated group to thoughtfully engage with the ethical dilemmas facing patients and the public – today and in the future. Together, the Center and Midland Health are building an ethics committee from the ground up, ensuring patients and providers alike have a critical resource for addressing ethical challenges.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Memorial Hospital already had an active ethics committee in place – but wanted to deepen their expertise to confidently navigate even the most complex ethical situations.

Ethical questions in healthcare can feel overwhelming, especially when the right path isn’t obvious. But a partnership with the Center for Practical Bioethics offers clarity. We provide real-time consultation, long-term support, and guidance that helps hospitals respond to uncertainty with confidence – while upholding the highest ethical standards in care.

For more information about our clinical ethics services, please email Cassie Shaffer Johnson at cshafferjohnson@PracticalBioethics.org.

By Cassie Shaffer Johnson