A paper in Ethics and Social Welfare, which perhaps most palliative care colleagues will not see, containing a case study of the ethics of discharge from a hospice, and also commenting on clinical ethics committees in hospices.

The case was of an older woman who said (probably rightly) that she would die more quickly if discharged from a hospice to a care home. See my post about a research article on the same subject on 4th September 2008. The paper tells you about a framework for looking consistently at ethical issues, ETHICS: in summary:
– enquire about the facts
– think through the options
– hear views from those involved
– identify principles
– clarify meaning and implications of values
– select a course of action and present the arguments for and against.

You might have to do this last move several times for different courses of action.

Gallagher, A. and Sykes, N. (2008) A little bit of heaven for the few: a case analysis. Ethics and Social Welfare. 2(3): 299-307.