Mitchell Hamline School of Law Mitchell Hamline Open Access Faculty Scholarship 2014 The Growing Power of Healthcare Ethics Committees Heightens Due Process Concerns Thaddeus Mason Pope Mitchell Hamline School of Law,
[email protected] Publication Information 15 Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution 425 (2014) Repository Citation Pope, Thaddeus Mason, "The Growing Power of Healthcare Ethics Committees Heightens Due Process Concerns" (2014). Faculty Scholarship. Paper 277. http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/facsch/277 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Growing Power of Healthcare Ethics Committees Heightens Due Process Concerns Abstract Complex ethical situations, such as end-of-life medical treatment disputes, occur on a regular basis in healthcare settings. Healthcare ethics committees (HECs) have been a leading dispute resolution forum for many of these conflicts. But while the function of HECs has evolved from mediation to adjudication, the form of HECs has not evolved to adapt to this expanded and more consequential function. HECs are typically multidisciplinary groups comprised of representatives from different departments of the healthcare facility: medicine, nursing, law, pastoral care, and social work, for example. HECs were established to support and advise patients, families, and caregivers as they work together to find os lutions for delicate circumstances. HECs generally have been considered to play a mere advisory, facilitative role. But, increasingly, HECs have been playing a decision making role. Both in law and in practice, state governments and healthcare facilities have been giving HECs more authority to adjudicate conflicts and more responsibility for making treatment decisions.