A local nonprofit provides training on tough end-of-life decisions, but faces insurance obstacles.

A young man was in his 20s when a recent accident left him with irreversible brain damage. As if that weren’t enough suffering, his parents were disputing the proper course of action: Should they keep providing health care?

This is the kind of heart-wrenching decision every family hopes to never have to make. But such decisions enter lives unpredictably, and require input from doctors, attorneys and social workers.

Salinas attorney Helen Hempel, who was involved in the case, had ethical questions she would’ve liked to pose to experts. “There was no official entity to which we could turn,” Hempel says.

Vicki Nelson, director of the nonprofit Compassionate Care Alliance, hopes to change that.

For more than a decade, Nelson has been convening professionals and volunteers for trainings on end-of-life decisions. For about two years, she’s overseen an effort to launch a bioethics committee. Such entities advise patients in hospitals, but Nelson hasn’t found a group to serve people outside hospital settings.

About 120 people gathered Nov. 15 at the Pasadera Country Club to work through bioethics case studies and hear the latest on Nelson’s plans to create a formal committee.

The committee could evaluate practical questions like whether to pursue aggressive treatments for dying patients, whether it’s worth going into bankruptcy to fight a terminal illness, and who is the appropriate decision-maker for patients with dementia.

Liability issues put plans for a formal committee on hold for now. Nelson hopes to revive the concept.