• 31. Case: Stakeholders’ Role in Decision-Making

    This case concerns parental involvement in decision-making related to maintaining a residential facility for adolescent patients. Due to a lack of sustainable funding, in consultation with the operations team, the facility board has made a decision to close the facility. The requestor indicated that the parents of the adolescent residents were concerned because they felt…

    View Case: 31. Case: Stakeholders’ Role in Decision-Making

  • 30. Case: Awards – Who Gets Them and Why?

    This case involves an organizational concern about inconsistency in the approach to applying for, being nominated for, and receiving awards.  Specifically, the requestor identified that there wasn’t a process or policy in place to objectively review each application and there were inconsistencies in the process for selecting those to receive individual awards. Overall, the motivation…

    View Case: 30. Case: Awards – Who Gets Them and Why?

  • 29. Case: Complicated Caring

    Mr. Sundown is a 78-year old African Nova Scotian who is a patient in an internal medicine clinical unit at the Halifax Infirmary. He has a variety of serious medical conditions including diabetes, coronary artery disease, and advanced COPD. He is experiencing progressive respiratory failure on the basis of a difficult-to-treat pneumonia. Mr. Sundown has…

    View Case: 29. Case: Complicated Caring

  • 28. Case: Mind the Gap!

    Mrs. Hardriver is admitted through ER to a general surgery unit for emergency surgical management of an acute small bowel obstruction secondary to her advanced colorectal cancer. After surgery, Palliative Care is consulted and they agree to admit Mrs. Hardriver to their service. As there is no palliative care bed available at the time of…

    View Case: 28. Case: Mind the Gap!

  • 27. Case: Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment

    Mr. Windown, age 82, is admitted to a cardiology clinical unit with unstable angina. In addition to his coronary artery disease, Mr. Windown suffers from disabling generalized osteoarthritis, chronic and progressive obstructive lung disease, and diabetes with associated compromise of his vision and kidney function. The coronary angiography reveals significant blockages of Mr. Windown’s coronary…

    View Case: 27. Case: Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment

  • 26. Case: Withdrawal of Life-sustaining Treatment, or Euthanasia?

    An ethics request came from nursing staff caring for a patient dying with end-stage throat cancer on acute surgical service. The patient has requested a removal of her tracheotomy and a chance to die as she chooses. She had agreed to try the trach for a while, but is finding it negatively impacts her quality…

    View Case: 26. Case: Withdrawal of Life-sustaining Treatment, or Euthanasia?

  • 25. Case: A Difference of Opinion?

    Mary is a 90-year old woman who has been in hospital several weeks. She has a COPD exacerbation, increasing difficulty swallowing, and pneumonia. She has said repeatedly she is tired of being in hospital and tired of fighting to breathe. She doesn’t want a feeding tube or her IV but wants to be allowed to…

    View Case: 25. Case: A Difference of Opinion?

  • 24. Case: Changing Care and Care-Giving

    Kevin Henderson is an 83-year old man who is hospitalized in an internal medicine clinical unit at the local hospital. Kevin has a variety of serious medical conditions including severe Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, coronary artery disease and advanced chronic obstructive lung disease. He is slowly recovering from a difficult-to-treat pneumonia, which required treatment with intravenous…

    View Case: 24. Case: Changing Care and Care-Giving

  • 23. Case: Reaching the Limits

    Mr. Stanley, a divorced 55-year old journalist with a history of epilepsy, was admitted to the medical ICU after an unwitnessed (presumably prolonged) episode of status epilepticus at home. Investigations, including an MRI study, revealed that he had sustained watershed cortical infarcts and a diagnosis of severe anoxic encephalopathy was made. Mr. Stanley did not…

    View Case: 23. Case: Reaching the Limits

  • 22. Case: Double Effect?

    The following call comes in to the ethics line: “Hi. It’s Celine from Oncology. We have a patient here who is in the end stages of lung cancer and is in a lot of pain. The patient and his family are strongly Catholic. The patient’s pain doesn’t seem to be well-controlled. But the family won’t…

    View Case: 22. Case: Double Effect?

  • 21. Case: Balancing Concerns

    “Where’s the door to my bathroom? Can’t a man get some privacy?” “Uh oh, that’s Elias again. We’d better make sure he’s alright.” “How many times are we going to have to go through this with him? Maybe we should just put the bathroom door on again.” “The only problem is that on his ‘bad’…

    View Case: 21. Case: Balancing Concerns

  • 20. Case: To Treat or Not to Treat

    Stan Miller, a retired widower, sustains severe burns covering 80% of his body surface in a house fire secondary to a propane gas leak. He is initially assessed in the ED of the local hospital where he is sedated and intubated without any pre-resuscitation discussion about the seriousness of his thermal injuries and his care…

    View Case: 20. Case: To Treat or Not to Treat

  • 19. Case: Craig’s Right to Choose?

    Craig Renaldo is a 14-year old boy who was recently diagnosed with a right lower leg malignant vascular tumour. Staging investigations have been negative for distant metastases. Craig’s attending medical oncologist, Dr. Purvis, consults a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Mendes, who recommends a below-knee amputation. Dr. Purvis concurs with this recommendation given the aggressive nature…

    View Case: 19. Case: Craig’s Right to Choose?

  • 18. Case: When the “Truth” is Painful

    Mrs. Sally Parrot, a 73-year old widow, has mild dementia of a presumed neurovascular type. She resides in her own small apartment in Serenity, a private continuing care community in Bedford, where she receives some assistance with housekeeping, meal preparation and organization of her medications. Sally is actively engaged in Serenity’s structured activities and, in…

    View Case: 18. Case: When the “Truth” is Painful

Search Cases

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

NSHEN logo

© © 2026 Nova Scotia Health Ethics Network.
All Rights Reserved.

[Privacy Policy]