The Mount Vernon Hospital, as part of its continuing care and concern for its patients, maintains an ethics committee. The ethics committee is a multi-disciplinary committee comprised of physicians, nurses, clergy and administrative personnel.

Any interested party can consult with the Committee with regards to patient care issues, such as the withholding/withdrawing of medical treatment, treatment of patients who lack decision making capacity specifically mandated by law, regulation or hospital policy, the committee will not act as the primary decision maker, but will instead act solely in an informative and advisory capacity, supporting the primary decision role of the family-patient-physician triad.

If you have an ethical issue that you would like addresses, please follow these steps:

First, try to work it out with your attending physician. Since he/she knows the patient the best, quite often by simply requesting to meet and communicate with the physician involved, you will find that he/she can explain and/or clarify the situation at hand.

Second if you feel that your ethical concerns are still unanswered, then request your nurse to contact the ethics committee through hospital administration.