Ethics By Committee

"Ethics boards have become obligatory passage points in today's medical science, and we forget how novel they really are. The use of humans in experiments is an age-old practice that records show goes back to at least the third century BC and, since the early modern period, as a practice it has become increasingly popular. Yet, in most countries around the world, hardly any formal checks and balances existed to govern the communal oversight of experiments involving human subjects until at least the 1960s. Ethics by Committee traces the rise of ethics boards for human experimentation in the second half of the twentieth century. Using the Netherlands as a case-study, Noortje Jacobs shows how the authority of physicians to make decisions about clinical research gave way in most developed nations to formal mechanisms of communal decision-making that served to regiment the behavior of individual researchers. This historically unprecedented change in scientific governance came out of a growing international wariness of medical research in the decades after World War II. Research ethics committees were originally intended not only to make human experimentation more ethical but also to raise its epistemic quality. By examining complex negotiations over the appropriate governance of human subjects research, Ethics by Committee advances our understanding not only of the history of research ethics and the randomized controlled trial but also, more broadly, of how liberal democracies in the late twentieth century have sought to resolve public concerns over charged issues in medicine and science"--

Ethics by Committee was developed for tens of thousands of people across the United States who serve on hospital ethics committees (HECs). Experts in bioethics, clinical consultation, health law, and social psychology from across the country have contributed chapters on ethics consultation, education, and policy development. The chapters discuss important considerations for HEC members such as promoting just and ethical organizations, developing cultural and spiritual awareness, and preparing for the forces of group dynamics in committee discussions and consensus building. No other book on the market offers the diversity of perspectives and topics while remaining focused, clear, and useful. Book jacket.

How can dedicated ethics committees members fulfill their complex roles as moral analysts, policy reviewers, and clinical consultants? The Joint Commission (TJC) accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations in the United States, including hospitals, nursing homes, and home care agencies. Each organization must have a standing health care ethics committee to maintain its status. These interdisciplinary committees are composed of physicians, nurses, attorneys, ethicists, administrators, and interested citizens. Their main function is to review and provide resolutions for specific, individual patient care problems. Many of these committees are well meaning but may lack the information, experience, skills, and formal background in bioethics needed to adequately negotiate the complex ethical issues that arise in clinical and organizational settings. Handbook for Health Care Ethics Committees was the first book of its kind to address the myriad responsibilities faced by ethics committees, including education, case consultation, and policy development. Adopting an accessible tone and using a case study format, the authors explore serious issues involving informed consent and refusal, decision making and decisional capacity, truth telling, the end of life, palliative care, justice in and access to health care services, and organizational ethics. The authors have thoroughly updated the content and expanded their focus in the second edition to include ethics committees in other clinical settings, such as long-term care facilities, small community hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and hospices. They have added three new chapters that address reproduction, disability, and the special needs of the elder population, and they provide additional specialized policies and procedures on the book’s website. This guide is an essential resource for all health care ethics committee members.

Definitive and comprehensive guidance for members of healthcare ethics committees confronted with ethically challenging situations.

How can dedicated health care ethics committees increase their effectiveness and demonstrate their value as essential moral resources for their organizations? Among the most effective and increasingly valued resources in the health care decision-making process is the institutional ethics committee. The Joint Commission (TJC) accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations in the United States, including hospitals, nursing homes, and home care agencies. As a condition of accreditation, TJC requires health care organizations to have available a standing multidisciplinary ethics committee, composed of physicians, nurses, attorneys, ethicists, administrators, and interested lay citizens. Many of these committees are well meaning but may lack the information, experience, skills, and formal background in bioethics needed to effectively address the range and complexity of the ethical issues that arise in clinical and organizational settings. Handbook for Health Care Ethics Committees was conceived in 2007 to address the myriad responsibilities assumed by ethics committees. Using sample cases and accessible language, Linda Farber Post and Jeffrey Blustein explored applied bioethics, including informed consent and refusal, decision making and decisional capacity, truth telling, care at the beginning and end of life, palliation, justice in and access to health care services, and organizational ethics. In the third edition, Post and Blustein have thoroughly updated and reorganized the content and expanded the scope of the material, with special attention to changes in the health care landscape since the second edition was published in 2015. They also focus on communication between and among patients, care providers, and families, the demands of professionalism, the essential role that ethics committees can and should play, and how their effectiveness and value can be assessed. An entirely new chapter examines research ethics. The book also addresses the challenging ethical issues raised by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This guide remains an essential resource for all health care ethics committee and their members.

Every accredited American hospital is required to have a mechanism for handling ethical concerns; most hospitals satisfy this requirement by constituting an institutional healthcare ethics committee (HEC), a pattern which is repeated in most western countries. This text provides definitive, comprehensive guidance for members of healthcare ethics committees who find themselves confronted with ethically challenging situations. Each chapter includes learning objectives, clinical case studies and questions to stimulate discussion among committee members. Particular emphasis is given to consultation, as this often presents the greatest challenges to committee members. Each chapter stands alone as a teaching module, as well as forming part of a comprehensive volume. Written and edited by nationally and internationally recognized experts in bioethics, this is essential reading for every member of a healthcare ethics committee.

Since the 1980s, increasing numbers of hospitals in the United States have formed internal ethics committees to help doctors and other health care professionals deal with complicated ethical questions, especially those regarding the end of a life. But it is only in recent years that German hospitals have followed suit. In Conflicts of Care, Helen Kohlen offers the first comprehensive look at the origin and function of these committees in German hospitals. Using a mix of archival research, participant observation, and interviews, Kohlen explores the debates that surrounded their formation and the functions they have taken on since their creation.