The study was reported in the September 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. According to the report, most physicians, nurses and patients who participated in ethics consulting in intensive care units (ICU) said the consultations were helpful in addressing treatment conflicts. Ethics consultations ensure that healthcare options are clearly understood by patients and their families.

Researchers also found that for patients in the ICU, ethics consultations resulted in a reduction of the use of treatments that weren't wanted or that had no chance of restoring the patient's health. The care of those patients who improved and eventually left the ICU was not affected.

"When most people think of ethics in medicine, they think of considerations involved in how physicians make decisions," said Daniel Dugan, Ph.D., who heads ethics consulting at Swedish Covenant Hospital and who oversaw the hospital's participation in the study. "But families of critically ill patients are faced with gut-wrenching ethical questions at a time when decision making is incredibly difficult. They may benefit from the kind of support ethics consulting provides."

Ethics consulting is increasingly provided by U.S. hospitals and consultations help with a wide range of issues in various circumstances, including:

• Differences of opinions about whether life-sustaining intervention or comfort care is best for a patient;
• Concerns by family or staff about whether aggressive treatments benefit the patient; or
• Confusion or disagreement among family members over who should be the decision maker when a patient is incapacitated.