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Clinical Experience

The Pediatric Ethics Fellow will actively engage in the Clinical Ethics Consult Service, with graduated autonomy over the course of the fellowship. Before the end of the fellowship, the expectation is that the fellow will obtain the Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified (HEC-C) Credential.

Additional clinical exposure occurs both through rotations with other specialties and disciplines such as the Palliative Care Team, Fetal Health Center, critical care units, etc., and during regular participation in unit-based rounds. And fellows are asked to join in policy development and review with the Ethics Committee.

Frequent topics for clinical ethics consultations include:

  • End-of-life concerns
  • Benefits vs. harms of treatment
  • Staff moral distress
  • Parental/caregiver conflict with the medical team
  • Burdensome therapy/futility
  • Decisional autonomy and capacity
  • Requests for interventions outside the standard of care
  • Experimental therapies/procedures
  • Research
  • Declining/refusing care
  • Beginning-of-life concerns
  • Informed consent and assent
  • Rights and ableism
  • Death by neurologic criteria
  • Religious, spiritual and existential related concerns
  • Code status
  • Truth-telling
  • Equity and discrimination
  • Distribution of scarce resources
  • Patient safety
  • Privacy and confidentiality
  • ECMO related concerns
  • Professional boundaries
  • And more