Ethical dilemmas arrive in all shapes and sizes, and can affect many personal domains: health/medicine, business, career, finance, and family.
The field of ethics provides educated and skilled practitioners to aid those who are in the midst of an ethical crisis. Ethicists also work with clients to offer proactive steps to avoid ethical conflict.
In practice since 2002 and formerly on staff at The Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Bramstedt has worked in the inpatient and outpatient setting, performing over 800 consultations involving a variety of topics (e.g., end of life, living wills, futility, transplant and organ donation, research protocol review, conflict of interest assessment, moral decision-making, conflict resolution).
She has worked with patients, family members, medical teams, IRBs, OPOs, the FDA, NIH, medical device companies, network television writers (e.g., ABC's "Private Practice"), and attorneys. Additionally, she has published over 75 articles in peer-reviewed medical and ethics journals, and she lectures nationally and internationally. Her private practice is in Sausalito, CA and her philosophical practice certification is through the American Philosophical Practitioners Association (cert# CACC00045).
Dr. Bramstedt recently completed the 2nd edition of Finding Your Way: A Medical Ethics Handbook for Patients and Families (Hilton Publishing). This edition will release in March 2012. The 1st edition is still available. Her book with co-author Rena Down, The Organ Donor Experience: Good Samaritans and the Meaning of Altruism (Rowman & Littlefield) released in Oct 2011 with excellent reviews.
