<p>Ethics consultations are categorized in a surprisingly heterogeneous way, found a recent analysis of 30 articles. The most common categories were do not resuscitate orders, capacity, withholding, withdrawing, and surrogate or proxy. Only 26% of the typologies (seven of 27 unique typologies) contained the five most common categories.</p>

Study Sheds Light on How Clinical Ethics Consults Are Categorized

Lack of standardization makes comparisons difficult

April 1, 2019

Ethics consultations are categorized in a surprisingly heterogeneous way, found a recent analysis of 30 articles. The most common categories were do not resuscitate orders, capacity, withholding, withdrawing, and surrogate or proxy. Only 26% of the typologies (seven of 27 unique typologies) contained the five most common categories.