What are Health Care Ethics?
Patients, families and health care professionals sometimes face hard decisions about medical treatments. These decisions may conflict with you morals, religious beliefs or health care guidelines. Health care ethics is a thoughtful review of how to act in the best interest of patients and their family. It is also about making good choices based on beliefs and values about life, health, suffering and death.

What are some ethical questions?
In some cases, questions come up when people do not agree about what is best for a person who is ill. Some examples of common questions include:

• When should breathing machines or feeding tubes be started, continued or stopped?
• What if a patient refused medical treatment?
• Should speak for or make decisions for patients who cannot make their own decisions?
• What help can be given to patients who have trouble making their own health care decisions?
• What is the ethics committee?

The ethics committee helps patients, families and health care workers to identify, understand and resolve hard ethical questions. The committee is made up of the following members:

• Doctors
• Nurses
• Clergy
• Patient Liaison Social Workers
• Community Members

What should I do if I need ethics advice?
To request advice, ethics help or a formal ethics consultation, contact Summa's Patient Liaison at (330) 375-3925, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. After these hours and on weekends, call the on-call administrator at (330) 375-3000. If advice is needed, you may meet with the ethics team. At this meeting, the committee will help you talk about, work through and settle your concerns. The ethics team will offer advice but will not make a decision for you.

What happens after ethics help is requested?
The ethics team will gather facts, ask questions and listen to you carefully. They will tell you your options or help you in making your decision. Sometimes just talking about the issues can help you make the decision that is best for you.

Will an ethics consultation be confidential?
Yes. All discussions are confidential.

Is advice from an ethics consultation legally binding?
No. The suggestions are for advice only. An ethics consultation does not give legally binding decisions for patients or healthcare workers.

Is there a charge for an ethics consultation?
All ethical help is free to you, your family and the staff at Summa Health System.

Additional Services Provided by the Ethics Committee Review

• Patient care policies that may create ethical concerns
• Discuss patient care issues and give advice when necessary
• Provide ethical consultation
• Provide ethics education for patients, community, physicians and hospital staff.

For more information To request ethics help or a consultation, call the patient liaison at (330) 375-3925, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. After 5 p.m. on weekdays and on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays call the on-call administrator at (330) 375-3000.