There may be a time when you are called on to make a decision about health care for yourself or for a loved one.  This can often be a confusing, frightening, or painful task.  Increased understanding among patients, families, and health care providers may lessen your fears and help relieve the burden that such difficult decision-making may cause.  Johnston Memorial Hospital has a Bio-Medical Ethics Committee to help you in such circumstances. 

The Bio-Medical Ethics Committee is a group of people with various backgrounds who are educated on medical ethics and are prepared to listen and respond to you.  They can help get all the facts you need to make a decision and they can offer feedback and suggestions.  They will never come up with a final answer or tell you what to do.   However, they do strive to help you reach a satisfactory conclusion. 

To get in touch with the Bio-Medical Ethics Committee, please notify the nursing supervisor.  The nursing supervisor will initiate the process of forming the committee.  A nursing supervisor is on duty 24-hours a day, seven days a week.