Ethics Services

At North York General Hospital, the ethics team supports our commitment to provide patient- and family-centred care. The ethicists offer ethics educational rounds and consultation services for patients, families, staff, and physicians who want help making difficult ethical decisions. This consultation service is offered in a supportive and advisory manner. 

What are ethical issues? 

Providing health care to patients sometimes leads to situations in which: 

  • people may wonder “What is the right thing to do?” or
  • someone expresses a value judgement about whether a situation is in their mind desirable or undesirable and others on the team disagree. 

These issues arise quite often because so many decisions in health care involve choices between important values. 

How do ethicists help? 

North York General's ethicists work with patients, families, and members of the health care team to resolve ethical issues that arise in the care of patients. Ethicists are available to attend family/team meetings, or to meet with patients, family members, or members of the care team individually. 

Contact us
Monique Visser, Ethicist
Phone: 416-756-6000 ext. 3482
Email: ethics@nygh.on.ca

Patients, family members, hospital staff and physicians can contact one of our ethicists directly for a confidential consult. Patients and their families can also request that a hospital staff member contact one of the ethicists on their behalf.

Hours
9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday (excluding statutory holidays).

If you have a request after hours or during a holiday, call Locating at 416-756-6002 and have the on-call ethicist paged.

Location
Ethics
North York General Hospital
4001 Leslie Street, Room GE-81A
Toronto ON  M2K 1E1