Bioethics Program

Extraordinary bioethical issues are faced every day at St. Francis Medical Center. Each year more than 1,300 traumas are rushed to our Emergency Department and more than 2,000 patients are treated in our Intensive Care Unit. Every year more than 7,000 babies are delivered, and 775 of them require neonatal intensive care services.

Our Focus is Our Patients

In collaboration with the Daughters of Charity Health System and St. John’s Archdiocesan Seminary of Los Angeles, the Bioethics Program supports SFMC’s physicians and staff in addressing bioethical aspects of patient care, with particular emphasis in intensive care and neonatal intensive care units. The clinical and education support provided through our collaborative efforts with the Daughters of Charity Health System and St. John’s Archdiocesan Seminary faculty to SFMC’s clinicians, dramatically enhances their ability to respond to the needs of their patients and their families.

This strong partnership, which is deeply rooted in our Vincentian tradition and the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, has resulted in a new level of awareness and clinical expertise regarding bioethical issues:

• Weekly multi-disciplinary rounds and Bioethics bedside reviews have become the norm in SFMC’s intensive care unit.
• Quarterly grand rounds addressing bioethical case studies are well attended by physicians and staff.
• Bioethical symposia have been offered to physicians and clinicians on topics such as pain management, organ donation, pallaitive care and dignity with regard to end-of-life issues.

While our Bioethics clinical and educational activities are focused on SFMC physicians and clinicians, the ultimate beneficiaries are the patients and families with whom these caregivers come in contact.