At ARHS, we provide guidance through life’s gray areas. The ARHS ethics committee is a resource for physicians and other healthcare professionals, as well as patients and families, to help resolve ethical dilemmas.
Violation: An ethical violation is when someone believes a clear wrong has been committed or imposed. Ethical violations are addressed through peer review and other mechanisms, but not through the Ethics Committee.
Committee Availability: Anyone—staff, patients, families, visitors, volunteers—can contact the Ethics Committee for assistance with a hospital-related ethical dilemma.
Committee Function: The Ethics Committee is not an oversight or medical review committee, but a resource for those who are responsible for making decisions in response to the ethical dilemma. The committee doesn’t make decisions or write orders; it is a consultative, impartial body that can facilitate open communication, assist in a resolution process, and/or make recommendations for next steps.
Committee Makeup: The committee includes physicians, nurses, a social worker, a chaplain, legal counsel, and other professionals, including representatives from CMH, ARMA, ARBH, and WMC. The committee meets four times a year for case study, policy and consult review, and professional education. Members of the committee also meet as a smaller group to respond to emergency ethics consults.
Methods for Consulting the Committee: 1. Enter an order into AllScripts for an Ethics Consult. 2. Page the Chaplain on Call at pager 1400. 3. Speak directly with a member of the committee. 4. Patients or families will need to share with a staff person their request for an ethics consult, and this should be communicated to the Ethics Committee chairperson.
Team Response: A small team from the Ethics Committee will respond to your concerns. The team leader will contact the parties involved within 24 hours.
Ethics Committee Chair: Rev. Melanie Childers, Director of Pastoral Care, (828) 266-1178.