Clinical Ethics at Children’s Hospital Colorado
The Children's Hospital Ethics Program, established in 2000 with support from a private donor and former Chancellor Vincent Fulginiti, MD, operates in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Colorado and the Department of Pediatrics.
The program’s mission is to provide comprehensive pediatric bioethics services at Children’s Colorado.
This program serves as a vital connection between Children’s Colorado and the ethics resources available at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado.
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Anyone can request an ethics consultation at any time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Patients and families can ask their care team to request an ethics consult on their behalf or they can call the ethics team directly through the hospital operator.
Call us at (720) 777-1234
Faculty
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Brian M Jackson MD, MA, HEC-C
Medical Director, Lead Ethics Consultant
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Curtis R Coughlin II PhD, MS, MBE
Lead Ethics Consultant
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Chelsey Patten DBe, HEC-C
Clinical Ethics Director
Lead Ethics Consultant, Co-Chair for Clinical Ethics Committees for UCHealth and UCHealth CU Hospital |
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Ethics Advisory Group
Ethics advisory at Children’s Hospital Colorado provides deep resources to patients, families and our faculty and staff. The Ethics Consult Service assists patients, families and clinicians in identifying and resolving ethical issues in patient care. Along with our other teams, these consultants are supported by our Ethics Committee that develops and reviews institutional policies, oversees the consult service and sponsors educational events like the yearly ethics conference.
Pediatric Ethics Engagement
Through our nationally recognized ethics liaison program and pediatric ethics grand rounds, we foster compassionate, ethical care and help promote in-depth discussions on complex ethical issues in pediatric healthcare.
The Children’s Colorado Ethics Liaison Program consists of over 70 liaisons who provide a vital role in fostering compassionate, ethical care.
Ethics Liaisons train in ethical discernment, communication, decision-making approaches, conflict resolution, and addressing moral distress. Ethics Liaisons like Chara Kurtz, RN, proactively address ethical hot spots, preempting conflicts, facilitating open discussions while rounding, and connecting staff to helpful resources during times of ethical uncertainty and moral distress.
Chara stated, "We truly are a liaison between the nurse, the rest of the medical team, and the parents. You are trying to bring people together collectively to share a similar vision to best care for the patient."
With their natural curiosity and focus on bringing diverse perspectives together, Ethics Liaisons are invaluable in navigating the ethically challenging cases that are inevitable in a leading children's hospital. Their work promotes consistent, collaborative patient-centered care and supports the resiliency of the remarkable staff.
This program at Children's Hospital Colorado is a national model and served as a template for the Center for Bioethics and Humanities Clinical Ethics Ambassador Program.Pediatric Ethics Grand Rounds are held on the third Tuesday of every month, (excluding June, July and August) and feature in-depth discussions on complex ethical issues in pediatric healthcare.
Open to the public, these sessions foster thoughtful dialogue and ethical awareness through real-world cases and emerging topics.
Continuing education credits are available for attendees, supporting professional development and ethical decision-making in the care of children and families.
Children’s Hospital Colorado team members may access recordings of past rounds below.
Recordings: Pediatric Ethics Grand Rounds
Annual Pediatric Ethics Conference
It Takes a Village: The Role of Pediatric Ethics in the Community
May 1-2, 2025 | Anschutz Health Sciences Building
This two-day conference will focus on how ethical issues and policymaking intersect. Sessions will focus on issues including policy responses to extended stay patients, mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect, responding to parents who are not able to make decisions for their children, and policy issues in pediatric mental health. The final half-day will focus on how conference-goers can act to improve the health and well-being of children.