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PubMed2006

[Legal repercussions of Clinical Ethics Committees reports].

Clinical Ethics Committees and Research Ethics Committees have their own specific roles. The Clinical Ethics Committee's pronouncements have an advisory function, whereas Research Ethics Committees' decisions are binding. This article analyzes the legal impact of the Clinical Ethics Committees' reports. Legal and medical reasoning share the same practical nature. Both can have several correct answers to the same situation. Clinical Ethics Committees deliberate about these alternatives and analyze the involved values. Their conclusions are non-compulsory recommendations. They do not replace nor diminish the doctor's personal responsibility. Even though the Clinical Ethics Committees' reports are not binding, they constitute a sort of "expert's opinion", expressed by qualified professionals, who assume their own professional responsibility as advisors. The members' behavior is necessarily subject to constitutional and legal regulations. When judges review the Clinical Ethics Committee's reports, they must realize that their nature is advisory, and also consider them an essential element to reduce the gap between the medical and legal fields. In this way, the problem of increasingly transforming medicine into a legal issue can be prevented.

Ethics Committees, Clinical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Developing clinical ethics committees.

Formal clinical ethics review first developed in the USA and most hospitals there have structures in place. This is often a clinical ethics committee. Developments have been slower in the UK, where there has been uncertainty and variability about the role of clinical ethics committees. Even in the USA, their exact role is uncertain. Although we now have a good idea of the mechanisms for ethical review of clinical issues in NHS trusts and health authorities, the desirability, composition and terms of reference for clinical ethics committees should be agreed as part of the clinical governance agenda.

Ethics Committees, Clinical↗
PubMed2005

[What are the clinical ethics committees doing?].

BACKGROUND: Clinical ethics committees have recently been established in nearly all Norwegian hospital trusts. To assess the quality and function of the committees, a national research project was initiated in 2004. METHODS: A questionnaire on composition, resources, qualifications, tasks and routines was mailed to all committees. The response rate was 75% (21 out of 28). RESULTS: The committees are interdisciplinary and meet on average nine times per year. Only three (14%) chairs have been given dedicated time. Ten (48%) committees have separate budgets. Major tasks include getting the committee established, educating employees, deliberations (cases and more general questions), and guidelines. Main issues are withholding and withdrawing treatment, communication, patient autonomy, involuntary treatment, and priority setting. 16 committees have specific deliberation procedures. Minutes were taken in approximately half of the case deliberations. Systematic evaluation is scarce. INTERPRETATION: During a short period the committees have increased their competence and served over 2000 hospital employees, mainly through seminars. The committees probably already contribute to quality assurance in ethical decision making. The committees want more case consultations. Important challenges are obtaining sufficient resources, making the committees better known, and establishing routines.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1995

Clinical ethics committee.

An informal clinical ethics committee was set up to advise on ethical problems in prenatal diagnosis in Leeds. It was used twice in six months but was not called on again in the subsequent year, and we describe this experience. In North America similar committees are often used to advise on clinical moral dilemmas, and we review the published evidence from there and discuss some of the advantages and problems. Our committee's advice may have altered clinicians' actions considerably, but perhaps doctors in Britain are not yet ready to surrender this aspect of clinical autonomy.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1997

Paediatrics at the cutting edge: do we need clinical ethics committees?

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the need for hospital clinical ethics committees by studying the frequency with which ethical dilemmas arose, the perceived adequacy of the process of their resolution, and the teaching and training of staff in medical ethics. DESIGN: Interviews with individuals and three multidisciplinary teams; questionnaire to randomly selected individuals. SETTING: Two major London children's hospitals. RESULTS: Ethical dilemmas arose frequently but were resolved in a relatively unstructured fashion. Ethical concerns included: the validity of consent for investigations and treatment; lack of children's involvement in consent; initiation of heroic or futile treatments; resource allocation. Staff expressed the need for a forum which would provide consultation on ethical issues, develop guidelines for good ethical practice, undertake teaching and training, and provide ethical reflection outside the acute clinical setting. CONCLUSION: Multidisciplinary, accountable and audited clinical ethics committees with predominantly advisory, practice development and educational roles could provide a valuable contribution to UK clinical practice and perhaps in other countries that have not developed hospital clinical ethics committees.

Child↗
PubMed2001

Teaching old dogs new tricks--a personal perspective on a decade of efforts by a clinical ethics committee to promote awareness of medical ethics.

To incorporate medical ethics into clinical practice, it must first be understood and valued by health care professionals. The recognition of this principle led to an expanding and continuing educational effort by the ethics committee of the Vancouver General Hospital. This paper reviews this venture, including some pitfalls and failures, as well as successes. Although we began with consultants, it quickly became apparent that education in medical ethics must reach all health care professionals--and medical students as well. Our greatest successes came in the formative years of a medical career (i.e., in medical school and residency training programmes), but other efforts were not wasted, particularly among nurses and other health care professionals. Although this is a personal review of the experience in one institution, the lessons learnt in Vancouver are applicable to the further development of medical ethics in the UK.

Awareness↗
PubMed2001

A critical analysis of Australian clinical ethics committees and the functions they serve.

The predominant function of Australian clinical ethics committees (CECs) is policy formation. Some committees have an educational role. Few committees play any direct role in advising on ethics in the management of individual patients and this occurs only in exceptional circumstances. There is a tendency to exaggerate both the number and function of committees. It is suggested that studies of ethics committees, based on questionnaire surveys, should be interpreted cautiously. An examination of ethical issues indicates that there is a role for a critical analysis of power relations in Australian hospitals that is not fulfilled by CECs.

Australia↗
PubMed2005

Clinical ethics, information, and communication: review of 31 cases from a clinical ethics committee.

OBJECTIVES: To summarise the types of case brought to the Clinical Ethics Committee of the National Hospital of Norway from 1996 to 2002 and to describe and discuss to what extent issues of information/communication have been involved in the ethical problems. DESIGN: Systematic review of case reports. FINDINGS: Of the 31 case discussions, (20 prospective, 11 retrospective), 19 cases concerned treatment of children. Twenty cases concerned ethical problems related to withholding/withdrawing of treatment. In 25 cases aspects of information/communication were involved in the ethical problem, either explicitly (n = 3) or implicitly (n = 22). CONCLUSION: Problems related to information/communication may underlie a classic ethical problem. Identification of these "hidden" problems may be important for the analysis, and hence, the solution to the ethical dilemma.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

The establishment of a hospital clinical ethics committee.

In the Republic of Ireland the establishment of Clinical Ethics Committees (CECs) are relatively new. The need for such committees has occurred due to the fact that the consideration of ethical issues in healthcare has become an important and frequent part of discussions by individuals and institutions. A number of factors have contributed to this growth of ethical considerations. The Bon Secours Health System (BSHS) decided to establish a CEC and appointed a co-ordinating team to draw up terms of reference for such a committee. During this process the co-ordinating team drew on the experience of other countries and of its own staff. Potential criticisms of how such a committee would function were examined. A representative membership of the CEC was also arrived at. The following functions were identified for a CEC: the need to provide a mechanism for the identification, discussion and resolution of medical ethical issues; the need to identify medical ethical issues which may create challenges to the health system and to monitor the responses of the health system to these areas, and the provision of education. Policy development was seen as a primary function of the CEC. Ethical case review also emerged as one area of potential involvement by the CEC. During the staff consultation a large number of ethical issues emerged which the staff requested the CEC to address. A methodology necessary for coping with the differences within the BSHS was developed by the CEC. It is evident that CECs are here to stay and how they develop and function will have an impact on the quality of healthcare.

Ethics Committees, Clinical↗
PubMed2001

Snapshots of five clinical ethics committees in the UK.

Each of the following papers gives an account of a different UK clinical ethics committee. The committees vary in the length of time they have been established, and also in the main focus of their work. The accounts discuss the development of the committees and some of the ethical problems that have been brought to them. The issues raised will be relevant for other National Health Service (NHS) trusts in the UK that wish to set up such a committee.

Committee Membership↗