Health Care Ethics Committees: The Next Generation (J-B AHA Press)

Approximately 85% of hospitals now have ethics committees. But this statistic says little about the efficiency and importance of these committees in their institutions. Frequently, ethics committees exist more in name than in practice, and are left without the guidance and help of their institution.

Health Care Ethics Committees provides a plethora of advice, including possible projects and activities, suggestions for making meetings more effective, insights into policy-making, and models for mission statements and goals. In addition, this book gives leaders a panoramic view of the past, present, and future of ethics committees in health care.

JUDITH WILSON ROSS, is an associate at the Center for Healthcare Ethics at St. Joseph Health System in Orange, California. Originally trained in English literature, she has been writing about and teaching bioethics since 1977. She has taught at UCLA in the College of Letters and Sciences, the School of Law, and the School of Medicine (in the positions of associate director of the Program in Medical Ethics, assistant professor of medicine, and assistant director of the Program in Medicine, Law, and Human Values). In addition, Ms. Ross has worked extensively with ethics committees in public, private, and teaching hospitals, as well as in health maintenance organizations.Ms. Ross is coeditor of the HEC Forum; editor of Ethical Currents; editor of Healthcare Ethics Literature Review; and editor of the bimonthly Western Bioethics Network, a collaborative newsletter of the Center for Healthcare Ethics (Orange, California) and the Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics (University of Southern California). The author of many articles and reviews on patient care and health policy issues, she is coauthor (with William Winslade) of Choosing Life and Death: A Guide for Patients, Families, and Professionals (New York: The Free Press, 1986) and The Insanity Plea: The Uses and Abuses of the Insanity Defense (New York City: Scribner's, 1983) and the principal author of A Handbook for Hospital Ethics Committees (Chicago: American Hospital Publishing, 1986). DOROTHY RASINSKI-GREGORY, is an associate in the Center for Healthcare Ethics at St. Joseph Health System in Orange, California. She is also a private consultant in legal medicine and risk management. Dr. Rasinski-Gregory was previously adjunct professor of medicine and risk management. Dr. Rasinski-Gregory was previously adjunct professor of medicine at the University of California at Irvine; past president of the American College of Legal Medicine headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and associate chief of staff for education at the Long Beach VA Hospital, where she established and chaired the ethics committee. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Legal Medicine, the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, and the Journal of Clinical Ethics. JOAN MCGIVER GIBSON, is director of the Center for Health Law and Ethics, Institute of Public Law at the University of New Mexico (in Albuquerque), where she is currently focusing her research and teaching efforts on the Values History Form (which she developed), mediation and medical ethics, and the role of the state and federal judiciary in bioethics issues. Since 1982, Dr. Gibson has also chaired the St. Joseph Healthcare System Medical Ethics Committee, also located in Albuquerque. She has taught ethics, with a special emphasis on health care, at the undergraduate level as well as in graduate medical, law, and nursing schools. CORRINE BAYLEY, is vice-president for ethics and corporate values at St. Joseph Health System in Orange, California. She is also on the staff of the system's Center for Healthcare Ethics. Her past experience includes seven years as a hospital chief executive officer. Ms. Bayley is a fellow of The Hastings Center, a consultant to nine ethics committees, and a lecturer in the Department of Medicine at the University of California at Irvine. She is cofounder and a board member of California Health Decisions, an innovative grass-roots organization whose mission is to educate and involve the public in ethical issues and health care. Ms. Bayley has published several articles and book chapters and is coauthor of Handbook for Hospital Ethics Committees (Chicago: American Hospital Publishing, 1986).