This short perspective piece is about the documentation of clinical ethics consultation in Canada. It is written at a time when the Canadian Association of Practicing Health Care Ethicists is endeavoring to develop standards of practice for clinical ethics in Canada. This brief commentary is informed by my experience working in clinical ethics in three different provinces, but it is primarily an attempt to draw attention to the normative questions: How much and what kinds of information should be included in (...) clinical ethics documentation? Where should ethics consultation reports be saved, and who should have access to them? These questions are, more fundamentally, about how we should balance concern for privacy, confidentiality, professional integrity, accountability and the promotion of trust. They are also about where clinical ethics fits within the broader Canadian health system. (shrink)

One element of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities’ recently-piloted quality attestation portfolio for clinical ethics consultants is a “philosophy of clinical ethics consultation statement” describing the candidate’s approach to clinical ethics consultation. To date, these statements have been under-explored in the literature, in contrast to philosophy statements in other fields such as academic teaching. In this article, I argue there is merit in expanding the content of these statements beyond clinical ethics consultation alone to describe the author’s approach (...) to other important “domains” of healthcare ethics practice. I also claim such statements have at least three additional uses outside quality attestation: as a reflective practice learning tool to increase role clarity among practicing healthcare ethicists and bioethics fellows; assisting practicing healthcare ethicists in clarifying role expectations with those they work with; and helping inform developing professional practice standards. (shrink)