The Ethics and Patient Rights Committee provides medical ethics consultation, ethics education, policy review and encourages ethics research at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and other Nemours sites in the Delaware Valley.
Ethics Consultation
The Ethics Consult team combines staff members from different departments to help with ethical decision-making — looking at questions like “What is the right thing to do?” in various situations. This consultation team will learn about the situation, hear from key stakeholders and make recommendations with the goal of informing clinical decisions, protecting patient and staff rights, and educating on the ethical issues.
Ethics Education
The Ethics and Patient Rights Committee oversees ethics education for Nemours associates in the Delaware Valley. Ethics educational activities at Nemours include our annual Ethics Day and Ethics Grand Rounds with a visiting professor, a monthly Ethics Education noon conference series and monthly Ethics Consultation training.
Policy Review
The Ethics and Patient Rights Committee reviews Nemours policies that have ethical implications for the rights of patients and staff. The committee will make recommendations that inform the content of these policies.
Ethics Research
The Ethics and Patient Rights Committee brings enthusiastic Nemours associates from many departments together to discuss ethical issues in the practice of pediatric medicine and research. This has led to interesting new questions and collaborations, stimulating scholarship in the area of Pediatric Ethics.
Committee Structure
The Nemours Ethics and Patient Rights Committee is comprised of Nemours associates representing a number of departments and specialties, as well as some community membership including family members of patients. Our members include physicians from a number of different pediatric and surgical specialties, and representation from nursing, psychology, social work, pastoral care, legal team, other clinical and nonclinical hospital staff, and administration. Our committee include trainees, such as residents and fellows.
The Committee meets monthly, in addition to the educational activities outlined above.
The Committee has two Co-Chairs, representing physicians and nursing.
Jonathan Miller, MD
Co-Chair
Director of Ethics Consultation
Dyane Bunnell, MSN, APRN-BC, AOCNS, CPON
Co-Chair
Ricki Carroll, MD
Director of Ethics Education