Hackensack Meridian Bioethics Institute
What Is Bioethics?
Bioethics is a multidisciplinary field of study and practice that articulates and examines values and commitments underlying decisions made in the healthcare setting. Ethical issues may relate to life and death, cure and comfort, truth telling and trust, or any other circumstance central to patient care, research, and health professions education. The concerns of bioethics include the well-being and dignity of the patient; the preferences, values, rights, responsibilities, and choices of the patient, the people involved with the patient’s care, and the care team; matters of fairness and access to care; and the ethical conduct of clinical research.
Bioethics is about actions, behaviors, and ways of thinking that healthcare professionals exhibit routinely, whether they call them “bioethics.” For example, bioethics is relevant to actions that protect the confidentiality of patients’ medical information, ensure that patients are given the opportunity to complete advance directives, and create a care environment that promotes patient dignity and comfort.
Who We Are
At Hackensack Meridian Bioethics Institute, we advance human-centered health care through multidisciplinary collaboration and bioethics leadership, education, consultation, and scholarship. We envision a healthcare system where every interaction honors the dignity, values, and voices of every individual, with connection and respect as essential elements of care delivered with compassion, courage, and integrity.What We Do
Recognizing that these matters are especially important to those who give and receive care, Hackensack Meridian Health provides team members, clinicians, patients, and those involved with the patient’s care access to bioethics guidance in making difficult decisions.
The members of the HMH Bioethics Institute provide:
- Clinical bioethics consultation
- Educate medical students, residents, and team members
- Host forums for discussion of ethical issues
- Collaborate with other disciplines
- Participate on medical center committees and projects
- Write and review policies
- Participate in the HMH Institutional Review Board, which is responsible for the responsible conduct of human subjects research; and provide leadership and education at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.