Unknown and Unrepresented Patients |
About This Survey
The Community Ethics Committee (CEC) is a diverse, Boston-based group of citizens who provide public input on ethical aspects of health care. The CEC is nonprofit and was developed to provide feedback and make recommendations about medical ethics policies for Harvard teaching hospitals.
This survey concerns medical patients who are unknown and apparently unknowable and -at least temporarily- unable to understand their medical situation or express their wishes for care, due to dementia, substance abuse, traumatic brain injury or other reasons. Though relatively rare, these patients are increasing in number in cities throughout the U.S., and creating moral dilemmas and distress about appropriate treatment decisions and who should make them. The goal of this survey is to gauge the public's opinion to help not only inform our recommendations but also to determine if the current committee truly represents the public’s opinion.
Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey. To learn more about the CEC and its past publications visit www.medicalethicsandme.org. Follow us on twitter @medethicsandme
This survey concerns medical patients who are unknown and apparently unknowable and -at least temporarily- unable to understand their medical situation or express their wishes for care, due to dementia, substance abuse, traumatic brain injury or other reasons. Though relatively rare, these patients are increasing in number in cities throughout the U.S., and creating moral dilemmas and distress about appropriate treatment decisions and who should make them. The goal of this survey is to gauge the public's opinion to help not only inform our recommendations but also to determine if the current committee truly represents the public’s opinion.
Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey. To learn more about the CEC and its past publications visit www.medicalethicsandme.org. Follow us on twitter @medethicsandme