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Consult service works to resolve ethical problems The MUSC Ethics Committee’s service arm, the Ethics Consult Service (ECS), is recruiting individuals to provide guidance to colleagues and patients on clinical ethics issues.  Clinicians, patients, and families are the primary moral problem solvers in patient care and the ECS provides assistance only after these persons have attempted to resolve the problem. When an ethical problem threatens to disrupt the planning or provision of care for a patient, the ECS is available to help think through problems and resolve conflicts. So, just what is an “ethical problem?” Is it a vague feeling that “this doesn’t feel right” or one of those things that we will intuitively “know it when we see it?”  “Many people think that medical technology causes ethical dilemmas,” says Jeanine Gage, director of the ECS. “Technology doesn’t cause dilemmas, but use of technology in medicine often allows beliefs based on individual moral convictions and values to clash among patients, families, and the health care team.” When this collision results in ethical problems or moral dilemmas, the ethics consultants with skills in areas of negotiation, consensus building, and ethical inquiry can help with problem solving. Should we resuscitate this patient who is dying and the family wants ‘everything’ done?  Who should make decisions for this patient?  Can we withdraw life-sustaining treatment on this infant? The problem-solving process requires thoughtful inquiry into the particulars of each patient case prior to ethical problem solving. This inquiry attempts to understand the causes of the ethical dilemma, generate ideas for how the dilemma might be resolved, assist with developing a plan of action, and review the results. ECS members work as a team to help the patient and the health care team with this process. Serving on the MUSC Ethics Committee is not a requirement for membership on the ECS. Becoming a member of the ECS requires education in the basics of clinical ethics, health law, and consultation that is provided through readings and experiential learning. The current ECS is an interdisciplinary team with representation from a variety of disciplines and the community. To become a member of the ECS, please submit a current curriculum vitae and a letter describing any former or current involvement in bioethics activities (teaching, research and publication, graduate course work or ethics committee service) to Ethics Consult Service chair Jeanine Gage, R.N., therapeutic services, room 742 Children's Hospital.