Abstract
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.
Full text
PDF


Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Andereck W. S. Development of a hospital ethics committee: lessons from five years of case consultations. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 1992 Winter;1(1):41–50. doi: 10.1017/s0963180100000074. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Anzia Daniel J., La Puma John. Cultivating ethics consultation: commentary on "The development of a clinical ethics consultation service in a community hospital. J Clin Ethics. 1992 Summer;3(2):131–133. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Carter B. S. Neonatologists and bioethics after Baby Doe. J Perinatol. 1993 Mar-Apr;13(2):144–150. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fleetwood J., Unger S. S. Institutional ethics committees and the shield of immunity. Ann Intern Med. 1994 Feb 15;120(4):320–325. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-120-4-199402150-00010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fost N., Cranford R. E. Hospital ethics committees. Administrative aspects. JAMA. 1985 May 10;253(18):2687–2692. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Harper P. S., Morris M. J., Tyler A. Genetic testing for Huntington's disease. BMJ. 1990 Apr 28;300(6732):1089–1090. doi: 10.1136/bmj.300.6732.1089. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lilford R. J., Johnson N. Surgical abortion at twenty weeks: is morality determined solely by the outcome? J Med Ethics. 1989 Jun;15(2):82–85. doi: 10.1136/jme.15.2.82. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lilford R. J., Thornton J. Ethics and late termination of pregnancy. Lancet. 1993 Aug 21;342(8869):499–499. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)91627-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lo B. Behind closed doors. Promises and pitfalls of ethics committees. N Engl J Med. 1987 Jul 2;317(1):46–50. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198707023170110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Moss A. H., Stocking C. B., Sachs G. A., Siegler M. Variation in the attitudes of dialysis unit medical directors toward decisions to withhold and withdraw dialysis. J Am Soc Nephrol. 1993 Aug;4(2):229–234. doi: 10.1681/ASN.V42229. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Perkins H. S., Saathoff B. S. Impact of medical ethics consultations on physicians: an exploratory study. Am J Med. 1988 Dec;85(6):761–765. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9343(88)80017-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Perkins Henry S. Clinical ethics consultations: reasons for optimism, but problems exist. J Clin Ethics. 1992 Summer;3(2):133–137. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rosner F. Hospital medical ethics committees: a review of their development. JAMA. 1985 May 10;253(18):2693–2697. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sonnenblick M., Friedlander Y., Steinberg A. Dissociation between the wishes of terminally ill parents and decisions by their offspring. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1993 Jun;41(6):599–604. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1993.tb06729.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Swenson M. D., Miller R. B. Ethics case review in health care institutions. Committees, consultants, or teams? Arch Intern Med. 1992 Apr;152(4):694–697. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tyler A., Morris M. National symposium on problems of presymptomatic testing for Huntington's disease, Cardiff. J Med Ethics. 1990 Mar;16(1):41–42. doi: 10.1136/jme.16.1.41. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
