The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The modern day bioethics “committee:” not a committee at all

My lastest from The Observ

My lastest from The Observer:The notion of the “bioethics committee” – a group of ethicists and representatives from various disciplines sitting around a table reviewing and passing judgment on cases – is to a great degree a holdover from the beginnings of modern bioethics. When medicine started to recognize the significance of ethical dilemmas, committees were indeed formed to answer some of these difficult questions and provide courses of action. For instance, the controversial Patient Admissions Committee of the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center, which during the 1940s sought to allocate the new and scarce medical resource of hemodialysis, seems to be the image that we think of with respect to a “bioethics committee.”Today, at many hospitals and especially so at academic institutions, the landscape is far different. Ethics consultation services provided by on-call clinical ethicists are prevalent and have, in the words of one such clinical ethicist, reigned in the image of a “God squad” of ethicists sitting at a round table passing down rulings. Instead, in image and practice, the consultation services offer mediation, not mandates….

Leave a Comment
Donate to Chicago Maroon
$670
$2000
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation makes the work of student journalists of University of Chicago possible and allows us to continue serving the UChicago and Hyde Park community.

More to Discover
Donate to Chicago Maroon
$670
$2000
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All Chicago Maroon Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *