Not only is deception commonplace in medical encounters, according to Christopher Meyers (2021), but the clinical ethicist might have moral obligations to support and even enact deception. Descriptively Meyers is right that there are “opportunistic, self-interested and benevolent reasons” for deception through omission and commission in clinical medicine. But it is possible to retain this premise while rejecting the normative conclusion that the clinical ethicist “should sometimes be an active participant in the deception of patients and families.” One reason to (...) reject the normative conclusion is its incompatibility with providing trauma informed ethics consultation (TIEC). In the TIEC framework I developed with Uchenna Anani, we defend the integration of trauma informed care (TIC) into ethics consultation (Lanphier and Anani 2021). While ethicists narrowly attend to the question and scope of the ethics consults made to them, doing so in alignment with trauma informed principles is tantamount to providing good ethics consultation. According to Meyers, the clinical ethicist is an “advocate for the best ethical choices.” The best ethical choices are also trauma informed ones. (shrink)

We are grateful for the excellent and incisive commentaries on our paper “Trauma Informed Ethics Consultation” (Lanphier and Anani 2022). It is heartening to see most commentators agree with why cl...

Elizabeth Lanphier and Uchenna E. Anani provide a powerful argument for the value of a trauma-informed approach to the ethics consultation, which acknowledges the perspectives of all stakeho...

Bioethics has received important criticisms for its perceived privileging of biomedical authority with longstanding calls for greater recognition of the social, political, economic, historical, and...

Clinical ethics consultants respond to a multitude of issues, ranging from the cognitive to the emotional. As such, ethics consultants must be prepared to analyze as well as empathize. And yet, there remains a paucity of research and training on the interpersonal and emotional aspects of clinical ethics consultations—the so-called skills in “advanced ethics facilitation.” This article is a contribution to the need for further understanding and practical knowledge in the emotional aspects of ethics consultation. In particular, I draw attention (...) to defense mechanisms: what they are, why they exist, and how we might work with them in the setting of ethics consultation. (shrink)

Complex clinical ethics cases require a blend of compassion, sensitivity, and tenacity in order to navigate the hard work required of stakeholders. Each person comes to the table with rich historie...

Trauma-informed care in pediatrics is an organizing principle for health care delivery that is based on the science of toxic stress and the insights of attachment theory. In their groundbreak...

Maddie’s story illustrates the critical importance of healthcare teams (HCTs) having inclusive multidisciplinary provider meetings prior to siloed conversations with families. It is paramount that...

The healthcare ethics consultant holds a widely described role in the modern American hospital. S/he may practice within a clinical discipline and be trained in bioethics, or be a trained phi...

We read with interest Lanphier and Anani’s manuscript on trauma-informed ethics consultation. Their model rightly integrates trauma-informed principles within the ethics c...

This case raises questions of what “trauma-informed care” (TIC) means to the medical team caring for Maurice and how they embrace a TIC approach. There are established principles of trauma-informed...

Berger and Miller argue that cultural competency as an educational tool for physicians-in-training fails to address structural inequality and systemic oppression. Instead, it focuses on “cul...