Hospital ethics committees: time to move beyond the obvious.

Hospital ethics committees (HECs) have come into vogue over the past quarter of a century, but subsequent to Joint Commission international Accreditation’s mandate in 1992, they have become an essential part of all major hospitals in North America. These committees work on different models to address the clinical ethics needs of hospitals. Some hospitals have a fulltime clinical ethicist, while others use a multidisciplinary committee comprising clinical, administrative, religious and legal representatives. The primary role of a vast majority of these committees has been to provide consultation and help solve problems in clinical ethics. However, the scope of clinical ethics has become much broader over the last century and a half. Medicine, not too long ago, used to be an interaction between a patient and a doctor; it was mostly dispensed out of a black bag, and it was predominantly harmless, but often useless. Now, it has become highly technical, and complex, with care being provided by multidisciplinary teams. it is more effective but also associated with multiple ethical issues. Clinical ethics is the branch of ethics that deals with all these issues. it is the interface between providers and seekers of healthcare, and demands much more than passive case consultations.