Making health care decisions can be challenging, especially during serious illness or uncertain times. Island Health’s Ethics Services team is here to support you, your family, and all members of your care team when tough choices arise or when values are unclear.
We’re here to help you explore your options, understand your choices, and ensure your values are respected.
Common questions we help with:
- Who should make decisions if I am not able to express my wishes?
- Should a treatment be started, continued, or stopped?
- What if my values or wishes are different from my family or from the people caring for me?
- I am someone’s substitute decision-maker (SDM). How can I best represent what this person would have wanted, knowing how they have lived and what matters to them?
Our role is to listen, help explore options, and support respectful, values-based care. This service is free and available to all patients, clients, families, staff, and physicians.
- What are examples of ethics dilemmas?
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- Balancing Quality of Life vs Length of Life: Deciding whether to pursue treatments that might extend a person’s life but could also cause suffering or disability
- Autonomy vs Best Interest: Respecting a person’s right to make their own choices, even if those choices seem unwise or risky to others
- Truth-Telling vs Protecting from Distress: Deciding whether to disclose full details of a health issue when there is concern that the information may cause emotional harm
- Conflicts Between Family Members: Navigating situations where legal decision-markers and emotional caregivers differ in their opinion of what ought to be done
- End-of-Life Decision Making: Making high impact decisions about withholding or withdrawing life sustaining therapy, or Medical Assistance in Dying.
- I need help to address my ethical dilemma. Where do I get help?
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- Share your concerns directly with your care providers, if you feel comfortable. Island Health staff and physicians want to hear from you directly. It’s okay to ask for explanations about recommendations and care decisions.
- Work together with care providers to explore possible options that align with:
- Your values (if you are the person receiving care); or
- Your family member’s values (if they are the person receiving care).
- If you need extra support, contact the Ethics Service:
- Confidential Voicemail: 1-866-995-3199 (leave a message)
- Confidential Email: ethicsmatters@islandhealth.ca
- We aim to respond within 24 hours during business hours. We are closed on weekends and holidays.
The Island Health Ethics team supports patients, clients, families, staff, and physicians in navigating ethical dilemmas related to care. We offer respectful, facilitated discussions to help explore ethical dilemmas and to support values-based decision-making.
Please contact Island Health’s Patient Care Quality Office if you have a concern about the quality of care you or your loved one has received.