Abstract
Many clinical ethics support services do not involve patients. This is surprising because of the broad commitment to provide patient-centered healthcare. Clinical ethics support services are a component of the healthcare system and have an influence on patient care, and should therefore align with the regulatory and ethical requirements of patient-centered care, just process and cultural competence. First, in order to achieve good patient care, it is essential to involve patients in making their own healthcare decisions. Second, just ethical deliberation requires that the deliberating parties have access to complete, accurate and unbiased information – this is best achieved through direct patient input. These arguments are especially compelling in the case of non-dominant cultural and ethnic groups. Here, we argue that when a clinician refers a case to a clinical ethics support services for consideration, and that case involves a conflict between the views or values of the clinician and the patient, the patient is entitled to, at a minimum: (a) be informed of the referral; (b) have the opportunity to speak directly to the clinical ethics support services prior to deliberation; (c) be provided with any opinion directly from the clinical ethics support services; and (d) have the opportunity to speak to a clinical ethics support services member after the deliberation. We use New Zealand as a case study to support and extrapolate the ethical principles and the minimum patient involvement requirements. We draw on our empirical research with senior doctors at a tertiary New Zealand hospital. Clinicians in our study indicated that they would feel bound by clinical ethics support service advice and that the clinical ethics support service has a significant impact on patient care in the case it reviews.