Ethics

This page outlines how Providence Health Care supports ethical care for patients.

Overview

In the 1890s, the Sisters of Providence established the first health care facilities in Vancouver. From the start, ethical reflection has been a cornerstone of who we are and what we do.

Providence Health Care’s commitment to ethical care is fundamental and universal. It is grounded in the moral teaching and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Our facilities offer leading edge medical care with a strong focus on compassion and social justice. We do this by paying careful attention to how we interact with one another and the people that we serve.

What is ethics?

Ethics is the philosophical discipline that examines right and wrong action. In ethics, we examine who we ought to be, how we should behave, and how we make decisions in light of who we say we are. At Providence, we believe that ethics touches everyone and everything. Ethics Services seeks to bring the best of our wisdom and lived experience to our work. We do this by placing ethical reflection and discussion at the centre of all our activities.

In a health-care setting, ethics comes into play in different ways. A few examples:

  • How best to respond to a medical emergency
  • Making difficult treatment decisions in clinical or long-term care
  • Managing disagreements between care providers, patients, residents, or families
  • Allocating scarce resources fairly

Ethics services

Our Ethics Services team members are a resource to bring an ethical lens to all our activities. We support patients, families and health-care professionals and offer the following services:

  • Clinical ethics consultation
  • Ethics-based policy review
  • Ethics education and outreach
  • Ethics support for the wider health-care community
  • Support in responding to inquiries about medical assistance in dying
  • Support for the Research Ethics Board

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Ethics & research

The Providence Health Care Ethics Services team is committed to research and academic endeavours. We publish the results of our research in academic peer-reviewed journals. The Ethics Services team also plays an important role in ensuring that other research projects are conducted in an ethical manner.

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