Conversations in Ethics December 10, 2003 “Conflicting Messages, Conflicting Values” Topic of CVMC’s December Conversations in Ethics

Catawba Valley Medical Center invites healthcare professionals and the community to attend the next ‘Conversations in Ethics’ to be held from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18 in the Northwest AHEC Lecture Hall, Room 112. This monthly, no-charge meeting provides an opportunity for discussion of some of the most important issues facing the healthcare profession today. The December session examines “Conflicting Messages, Conflicting Values,” a case study involving parental rights and a premature birth at 23 weeks gestation. When the mother begins preterm labor, she develops an inflammatory condition potentially fatal for her and the unborn child. Upon learning from the clinical staff the dire prognosis and possible problems for the child, the couple ask that their child not receive resuscitative intervention after its birth and a staff member notes the request in the patient file. Shortly thereafter the father is asked to attend a conference with his wife and medical and administrative staff. These parents are informed that staff cannot withhold resuscitative effort for the child because hospital policy mandates it be given according to the organization’s mission statement. The father disagrees since information on patients’ rights is posted throughout the facility. Administrative staff and the hospital attorney insist that the mission statement takes precedence. The following questions will be considered: Do hospital policies supercede patient rights? How might the Hospital Administration address the conflicting message of Policy and Patients’ Rights? Who is responsible for the child’s care in the event dire consequences occur? What rights do parents of unborn children have when there is a known high probability that the child will be severely disabled? Completion of this activity provides 1.2 contact hours of continuing nursing education via CVMC, Department of Organizational Learning, an approved provider of continuing education. For more information or to register for the free “boxed” lunch, please call 828-326-3365 by Tuesday, Dec.16. Catawba Valley Medical Center is a not-for-profit healthcare system providing and promoting the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventative medicine and acute care. It was recently designated as the thirty-second Magnet facility in the nation and the second in the Carolinas.