Bioethics

Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) supports ethical practice while providing quality healthcare. In our everyday work we aim to live out the hospital's values of compassion, respect, integrity, inclusion, and courage.

The term ‘bioethics’ refers to thinking about ethical/moral issues that happen in health care and research settings including:

deciding what we should do (what decisions are morally right or acceptable)
describing how we should do it (the method or manner of our response)
explaining why we should do it (justifying our decision in moral terms).

Bioethics helps with discussions when patients, families and healthcare professionals face tough moral or value-based decisions.

When are we talking bioethics?

Ethical issues often arise when there is disagreement, or differing opinions about what is important, for example when:

a patient or their Substitute Decision Maker (SDM) says “it does not seem fair”
health care team members cannot agree on what should be done
a health care team member has an uncomfortable feeling about a course of action
a patient or SDM cannot decide what to do
a team member’s values are not the same as those of the patient or the SDM
hospital staff want to explore why the hospital is doing something
hospital administrators want help to explain a decision.

How do I contact a Bioethicist?

Anyone involved in the patient's care may ask for help from a bioethicist. This includes the patient, their family members, the patient’s SDM or members of the healthcare team.

You may ask to speak to a member of the bioethics team by:

Emailing @email
Asking a member of the healthcare team to contact a bioethicist

What is the role of the bioethicist?

MGH's bioethicists have advanced training in ethics. They can help to:

explain ethical issues and facts
explore other views and values
make clear the patient’s goals, values and wishes
review options
help resolve conflicts
support good processes for making decisions
help everyone agree on the best course of action
explain why the decision is the most fair one.

Bioethicists are also involved with:

Ethics issues related to research
Policies and guidelines about how decisions are made
Educating patients, families, and health care professionals about ethical issues in patient care.

What are some examples where bioethics could help?

Bioethics can help by researching, reviewing, and talking about the law, hospital policies, professional codes of conduct, professional standards of practice and ethical theories to help resolve ethical issues. Bioethicists often help when:

there is disagreement about the appropriate care or discharge plan
there are difficult end of life decisions like inserting feeding tubes in patients with advanced dementia or removing life sustaining measures in the intensive care unit or complex continuing care unit
the patient has questions about medical assistance in dying (commonly referred to as MAID)
the health care team has questions about who is the proper SDM to make the decision about treatment when the patient is no longer able to make the decision
the SDM needs help understanding their role in making decisions for an incapable patient.

Resources:

Learn more about bioethics Topics

There are many ethics resources available on the internet. Here is a list of some resources that we find helpful.

Advance Care Planning and Power of Attorney documents

Consent and Capacity

Mental Capacity from the Government of Ontario
Aid to Capacity Evaluation Tool, a tool which helps clinicians systematically evaluate capacity when a patient is facing a medical decision.
Consent and Capacity Board (CCB), an independent provincial tribunal. The CCB's key areas of activity include the adjudication of matters of capacity, consent, and substitute decision making.
Decisions by the Consent and Capacity Board
Health Care Consent Act, 1996. Ontario legislation which helps to enhance the autonomy of persons by providing rules for determining capacity in treatment decisions and for obtaining informed, voluntary consent from either the capable patient or their substitute decision maker.

Organ Transplantation

Trillium Gift of Life Network, the Government of Ontario agency responsible for delivering and coordinating organ and tissue donation and transplantation services across the province.

Medical Assistance in Dying

Mental Health