Curious Engagement: Navigating False Predicates in Ethics Consultation
Access to this document is restricted. Some items have been embargoed at the request of the author, but will be made publicly available after the "No Access Until" date.
During the embargo period, you may request access to the item by clicking the link to the restricted file(s) and completing the request form. If we have contact information for a Cornell author, we will contact the author and request permission to provide access. If we do not have contact information for a Cornell author, or the author denies or does not respond to our inquiry, we will not be able to provide access. For more information, review our policies for restricted content.
AbstractLong before a clinical ethicist can make recommendations in any given case, they must establish a foundational understanding of the pertinent medical facts informing the ethical dilemma. In this article, we encourage clinical ethicists to employ a practice we term curious engagement to identify and address incomplete and incorrect information that may present itself in the ethics consultation process. We illustrate our methodology by reflecting on a composite case drawn from our own consultative work and highlighting other scenarios in which clinical ethicists may encounter problematic situations. Under the rubric of curious engagement, we provide guidance for how best to navigate false predicates while maintaining sensitivity to patient safety and professional boundaries.