Parkland Ethics Committee

Parkland’s most important goal is to give each patient the best possible health care. One way Parkland meets this goal is through our Parkland Ethics Committee.

Our committee helps patients and health care providers think about, talk about, and make choices at times when there are questions about values, beliefs, or choosing what to do. There are doctors, nurses, social workers, religious and spiritual leaders, administrators, lawyers, and people from the community on this committee.
The committee has three main missions:

• Educational mission: To teach the hospital community (patients, families, clinicians) about medical ethics
• Policy mission: To check policies (written rules) to be sure they are in line with Parkland's goals
• Consultation mission: To help patients, families, and clinicians make decisions about good care

Our educational mission involves developing web-based information, providing lectures and teaching seminars for the hospital community, and developing other materials to help patients and families address the most difficult decisions they face - from disagreements with their doctor, to decisions to donate an organ for transplantation - and to help patients, families and clinicians develop goals for care, especially when the patient is seriously ill.

Our policy mission is to make sure that Parkland’s policies are clear and compatible with laws and regulations. We believe our policies should make for the best possible health care.

Our consultation mission involves us helping patients, families, and clinicians make good decisions about care by advising those who are puzzled about what to do. We recognize that health care today is complex. Knowing what to do requires discussion, understanding of often-confusing facts, and clarifying each person’s values and beliefs about health. We advise patients, families, doctors, nurses, other hospital workers, and even the hospital administration about clinical ethics.