Policy Mission

The Parkland administration routinely asks the Committee to review new proposed Parkland policies and to revise and update older policies that pertain to important clinical ethics topics, such as organ donation, informed consent, refusals of treatment, end-of-life care, and more. When new Texas laws affect medical decision-making, Parkland’s Legal Affairs office and our Parkland Ethics Committee collaborate to formulate Parkland’s response.

When new laws concerning health care are being considered in the Texas legislature, Parkland Legal Affairs and our Parkland Ethics Committee collaborate with Parkland Administration in developing responses to proposed legislation, which assure high-quality, humanistic health care for our patients.

Our Parkland Ethics Committee also assists the Department of Spiritual Care in their conduct of the Advance Directives Program, which focuses on planning for health decisions when the patient is unable to participate in healthcare decisions.

Some of our most important and commonly used policies can be viewed in ethics resources.