Clinical Ethics Consultation
Help with difficult decisions or disagreements
The Clinical Ethics Consultation Service (CECS) gives you a neutral third party to help sort through complex medical decisions or disagreements you may have with your care team or your loved ones. The professionals who provide this service are called clinical ethicists or ethics consultants with specialized training in clinical ethics and mediation.
The CECS is a free service that is available 24/7 to any patient, patient representative, loved one, or Novant Health team member requesting an “ethics consult.” The goal of ethics consultation is to improve the quality of patient care. The ethics consultants will consider current medical and scientific evidence while respecting the diverse values, goals, and preferences of all those involved, to help everyone understand the situation and find resolution.
A request for an ethics consult does not mean that anyone involved has done something “wrong” or “unethical.” It generally means there is some uncertainty or conflict that may be resolved through the ethics consultation process. Recommendations from the CECS are advisory and are different from advice from legal or risk management. Anyone may contact the CECS by calling the consultation line at 1-844-307-2721 or emailing nhclinicalethics@novanthealth.org.
You may also ask a member of the care team to request a consultation on your behalf.
Frequently Asked Questions
At Novant Health, we want to follow you along your entire healthcare journey. This means making sure your healthcare wishes and choices are known so they can be honored.