Clinical Ethics Committee

Do you have an ethical issue you would like discussed? Cases can be submitted to the KEK leader, Olav Søvik, by phone at 416 89 421 or anonymously byemail.

The Clinical Ethics Committees are composed of a multidisciplinary team. The members have both expertise and experience in medical ethics, as well as clinical and/or other relevant knowledge and experience (law, philosophy of life). The committee members are selected by the hospital management based on such expertise. The committees are independent forums and also include a patient representative, an ethicist, and a lawyer in addition to representatives from various professional groups in the hospital. The leader is a senior consultant, Olav Søvik.

Sørlandet Hospital treats many patients with complex and demanding medical conditions. Almost daily, we must make decisions that have serious and far-reaching consequences for the patient and their relatives. Examples of questions that may arise are:

• Does "useless" treatment exist, and what would it take to say that something is "useless"?

• Should we always treat everyone with maximum effort, or are there limits to what one should or ought to do for some patients?

• Could it be that we should say no to certain types of high-tech treatment?

• What basis do we have for prioritizing when resources are limited? For example, can we prioritize the young over the old?

• Should we always tell patients everything we know about them?

• When is it right/legal to force patients to do something they don't want? What conditions must be in place to exercise such coercion?

Such and many other questions can be discussed in the Clinical Ethics Committee (KEK).

Sometimes discussions in the Clinical Ethics Committee arise from specific and ongoing cases where the treating physicians or others have asked the committee for specific viewpoints on what is ethically right to do here and now. The committee's role is then primarily to broadly illuminate the case and contribute to ensuring that important viewpoints are heard. The committee can provide advice, but the responsible treating physician still has responsibility. The KEK strives to provide advice as quickly as the case requires.

Sometimes the committee is asked for advice in cases that are already closed, but where the patient/relatives or employees of the hospital want an impartial, principled discussion. There may be a desire to get help sorting out what the ethical dilemmas actually were, and what choices were actually available. Often there is a desire to illuminate the fundamentally and value-based difficult aspects in order to be better prepared the next time one is in a similar situation.

Would you like access to cases we have handled? Send an email topostmottak@sshf.noand request access to cases from the Clinical Ethics Committee.