As an organization founded by Catholic Sisters, we bring our values to all the work we do, whether it is at the bedside or in the business office. The Catholic tradition of using the gift of reason to think our way through our ethical obligations is strong at CHW. That’s why we take our responsibility to ask the right questions and to promote integrity both in patient care and business practices very seriously.
Because we recognize the importance of the values people bring to this ministry, we utilize explicit processes for making ethical decisions. Some decisions are obvious, some are routine, some are automatic; other decisions are more complex and may put our values to the test. Some decisions clearly touch the heart of who we are. In these instances, we want to be as clear as possible about our values, our multiple responsibilities and our mission.
In all our deliberations, we are guided by two foundational documents. Our Catholic hospitals observe The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Our non-Catholic hospitals observe the CHW Statement of Common Values, which outlines the values CHW shares with our secular partners.
If you have medical or business ethics questions, contact us at ethics@chw.edu
