Wisconsin healthcare ethics committees

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

Volumn 6, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 288-292

  Shapiro, Robyn S ^a   Klein, John P ^a   Tym, Kristen A ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BIOETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS; EMPIRICAL APPROACH; EPIDEMIOLOGY; ETHICS; EVALUATION; FORECASTING; HOSPITAL; INSTITUTIONAL ETHICS; ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; PROFESSIONAL STANDARD; QUESTIONNAIRE; STANDARD; STATISTICS; UNITED STATES;

BIOETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS; EMPIRICAL APPROACH;

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP; ETHICS COMMITTEES; ETHICS COMMITTEES, CLINICAL; ETHICS CONSULTATION; ETHICS, INSTITUTIONAL; EVALUATION STUDIES; FORECASTING; HEALTH CARE SURVEYS; HOSPITALS; QUESTIONNAIRES; WISCONSIN;

EID: 0031159961     PISSN: 09631801     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0963180100007969     Document Type: Article

References (5)

1. In re Quinlan, 355 A.2d 647, cert. denied 429 U.S. 922 (N.J. 1976). In Quinlan, the New Jersey Supreme Court quoted an article by Dr. Karen Teel, which suggested that each hospital establish an "ethics committee composed of physicians, social workers, attorneys and theologians ... which [would serve] to review the individual circumstances of ethical dilemma[s] and which [would provide] much in the way of assistance and safeguards for patients and their medical caretakers."
2. President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Deciding to Forgo Life-Sustaining Treatment: A Report on the Ethical, Medical and Legal Issues in Treatment Decisions. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983. The commission concluded that in order to protect the interests of patients who lack decision-making capacity, healthcare institutions should "explore and evaluate ... various administrative arrangements for review and consultation, such as 'ethics committees,' particularly for decisions that have life or death consequences ..."
3. 45 C.F.R. sec. 1340.15 (1991). These regulations strongly encouraged hospitals caring for infants to establish infant care review committees to review cases involving the withholding of life-sustaining treatment.
4. See, for example, In re Torres, 357 N.W.2d 332 (Minn. 1984), where the Supreme Court of Minnesota stated that an ethics committee's affirmation of a family's decision to withdraw life support from a patient in a persistent vegetative state would eliminate the need for prior court approval.
5. JCAHO accreditation guidelines require institutions to have mechanisms in place to address ethical issues in patient care. See Section RI.1, 1995 Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals.