ETHICAL CONFLICT-RESOLUTION BASED ON AN ETHICS OF RELATIONSHIPS FOR BRAIN INJURY REHABILITATION

An ethics of relationships for brain injury (BI) rehabilitation is des cribed based on three principles: (1) human relationships are importan t; (2) human relationships are as important as individual survival; (3 ) human relationships are important enough to extend throughout the fa mily of humankind. Within the context of this ethics of relationships, ethical conflict resolution (ECR) is offered as a process to address disagreements among those involved in BI rehabilitation. ECR provides a means to arrive at moral decisions in situations in which people dis agree about the appropriate course of action because of differing valu es. ECR recognizes that, although disagreements in BI rehabilitation s ettings can be associated with multiple other factors, including distu rbed self-awareness, emotions, communication, and interpersonal dynami cs, such disagreements may also be value-based, either in whole or par t. ECR invites the professional team to identify the value-based porti on of these disagreements and provides a rational and supportive proce ss to address disagreements. In this discussion of ECR, common and pot entially universal areas of ethical concern in BI rehabilitation are i dentified, as well as potential risks. Specific examples of the applic ation of ECR in cases of vegetative state, coma stimulation, and cogni tive rehabilitation are described.