Uncertainty, certainty and clinical ethics
Edwina Light1, Linda Sheahan1, George Skowronski1, Ian Kerridge1, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District / University Of Sydney Randwick 1South Eastern Sydney Local Health District / University Of Sydney, Randwick, NSW, Australia
Abstract
Uncertainty is a central feature in the work of a clinical ethics service, frequently at the core of moral conflict and distress and subsequent referrals for clinical case and organisational support. So too its counterpart, certainty, can prompt its own clinical ethics dilemmas.
While “(un)certainty” might be considered ubiquitous in clinical ethics work, less clear sometimes are the sources of (un)certainty or their significance in the context of moral conflict or distress.
(Un)certainties might, for example, emerge at individual or institutional levels, or in relation to perspectives on the benefits and harms of new or long-standing practices.
This session brings together new research, cases, and organisational policy work to examine these common threads of (un)certainty and how they function in the context of a clinical ethics service. The panel will present work related to:
•clinician perspectives on the implementation of the new Voluntary Assisted Dying law in NSW.
•decision-making about patient care in multidisciplinary teams.
•overt and covert audiovisual recording by third parties of patients and clinicians in community settings.
•clinician decisions to resuscitate patients.
These brief papers will draw attention to different sources of (un)certainty and their impact in relation to both new and established clinical practices and policies.
In a facilitated discussion the panel will further explore the ethical significance of (un)certainty and the role of clinical ethics in identifying and responding to uncertainties in clinical settings.
Biography
– Edwina Light is a Clinical Ethics Coordinator and Researcher at the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) Clinical Ethics Service, and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Sydney Health Ethics, University of Sydney.
– Linda Sheahan is Clinical Ethics Consultant and Lead of the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) Clinical Ethics Service, Staff Specialist in Palliative Medicine at St George Hospital, SESLHD Clinical Stream Director, End of Life and Palliative Care, and an Affiliate at Sydney Health Ethics, University of Sydney.
– George Skowronski is Clinical Ethics Lead at St George Hospital, SESLHD Clinical Ethics Committee member, and an Affiliate at Sydney Health Ethics, University of Sydney.
– Ian Kerridge is Chair of the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) Clinical Ethics Committee, Professor of Bioethics and Medicine at Sydney Health Ethics, University of Sydney, and and a haematologist & BMT physician, Royal North Shore Hospital.