Ethical decision-making made easier. The use of decision trees in case management

Case managers have never before faced the multitude of difficult ethical dilemmas that now confront them daily. Legal, medical, social, and ethical considerations often fly in the face of previously reliable intuitions. The importance and urgency of facing these dilemmas head-on has resulted in clear calls for action. What are the appropriate legal, ethical, and professional parameters for effective decision making? Are normatively sensitive, but also practically sensible protocols possible? In an effort to address these concerns, Alternatives for the Older Adult, Inc., Rock Island, Illinois established an ethics committee to look into possible means of resolving or dissolving commonly occurring dilemmas. As a result of year-long deliberations, the committee formulated a decision-making strategy whose central apparatus is the decision tree--a flowchart of reasonable decisions and their consequent implications. In this article, we explore the development of this approach as well as the theory that underlies it.