Bioethics Patient and Family Resources

Your family may face difficult health care decisions during your child’s treatment. The Center for Bioethics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is here to help.

It’s not always easy to figure out what is best for your child. You may feel like there are multiple “right” choices, or you may disagree with others about what is “right.” Other times, you may feel like no good options exist and you don’t know what to do. Our ethics experts offer free consults and guidance to help you through these challenging decisions.

What Is Bioethics?

Ethics are values and beliefs about right and wrong—your morals. They guide how you act and the decisions you make. Sometimes you run into an ethical dilemma, a difficult situation where there is uncertainty or conflict about the right course of action.

The field of bioethics studies ethical dilemmas that happen in medicine, ranging from moral to legal issues. Bioethics helps health care providers, patients and their families figure out what to do in difficult situations. Bioethics also guides researchers and scientists in the process of creating new treatments.

Pediatric bioethics focuses on how these topics apply to the medical care of children. Certain concerns, such as the child’s role in decision-making and the extent of parental authority, make pediatric bioethics unique.

How Can Bioethics Help My Family?

Whether you have specific questions or just want to discuss your situation, our ethics consultants are here to listen.

You may talk with our ethics consultants about your child’s care anytime, including (but not limited to) if you:

  • Are uncertain about your teen’s ability to make decisions
  • Disagree with your child’s doctor about the treatment plan
  • Disagree with your child about the recommended treatment
  • Don’t know how much medical information you should share with your child, such as the likely outcome of your child’s condition
  • Have personal, religious or spiritual beliefs that conflict with the recommended treatment
  • Think your child is being treated differently than others with respect to the care offered or provided

Bioethics and research participation

As part of treatment, your child may consider participating in a research study, sometimes called a clinical trial or study. Our ethics consultants work with The Saban Research Institute to ensure that CHLA’s clinical trials are ethical. You and your family may feel more comfortable with research participation knowing that our bioethicists have reviewed studies at CHLA.

What to Expect From an Ethics Consultation

During an ethics consultation, you will talk with a member of our ethics team who is not otherwise involved in your child’s care. Usually, we schedule a phone call or a virtual visit. We can also meet at CHLA if your child is currently hospitalized or you prefer to meet in person.

Our ethics consultant helps you and your child’s health care team think through the problem and figure out acceptable solutions. We may offer guidance in the moment, point you toward other resources or start a more in-depth consultation process.

Steps of an ethics consultation

As part of a typical consultation, we:

  1. Gather information from your child’s medical record
  2. Discuss the issue with health care team members, you and your child (separately and/or all together)
  3. Identify the ethical issue and the relevant ethical principles involved
  4. Promote an open and honest conversation to hear the perspectives and values of each person
  5. Make recommendations for moving forward

Sometimes you may be invited to meet with the Ethics Resource Committee at CHLA after speaking to a consultant. This group includes medical faculty, staff, parents and community representatives.

If you don’t feel comfortable meeting in a large group, we will find other ways to facilitate communication. We help you and your child’s health care team understand each other’s concerns and come up with a plan that everyone supports.

After an ethics consultation

The final decision about your child's care belongs to you and your child's health care team. You and your child’s health care team continue to work together to care for your child. Our ethics consultant follows up as needed.

How to Request an Ethics Consultation

We are available for ethics consults 24/7, every day of the year. Call 323-660-2450 and ask the operator to page the on-call ethics consultant.

You can also ask any member of your child’s health care team (including bedside nurses and social workers) to request a consult on your behalf.