Hospital Ethics Committee of Korea and Other Nations : Legal Provisions, Structures and Development

The Supreme court decided to allow to withhold or withdraw futility life-sustaining treatment in instance of a terminal condition or permanent unconscious condition and recommended to utilize hospital ethics committees in Severance Hospital"s Mrs Kim case in 2009. But there is no agreements about the legal effect of HECs’ decision and details as well as compositions, legal authority, and requirements of membership yet. We studied the requirements to legalize the HEC system through comparing and reviewing the histories, situations and legislations of HECs in other countries and HECs bills pending at the National Assembly in ROK. USA has started to force to build the HECs since the mid-1980s recommending to build Infant Care Review Committees (ICRCs) in 『the "Infant Doe" child protection regulations』 in 1985. Now There are Maryland, New Jersey, New York etc which have regulated the installation, composition, function and operation procedures of HECs in written laws. Singapore has the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act(PHMC Act) which force every medical institutions to build HECs, Israel forces to build ethics committees through 『Patients" Rights Act』. Since Severance Hospital"s Mrs Kim case in 2009, the member of the National Assembly Sang - Jin Shin and Seyeon Kim have tabled ‘Death with Dignity Bill’ and ‘Natural Death Bill’ pending at the National Assembly. But It"s not sure whether the bills are passed or not and it"s not enough to review the contents. These are the issues to build the system of the HECs. First, we have to legislate the independent law on HECs. Second, we have to get the union of the term "Hospital Ethics Committees". Third, we have to stipulate HECs to have the functions as open communications, ethics education and policy development as far as the decision on the life-sustaining treatment. Forth, we have to compose the inter-disciplinary experts in the parts of medical, social, economical, legal aspects. Fifth, we have to build the HECs" network and entrust the network with the education and training project. Sixth, we have to utilize HECs as the line of communication to prevent to expand the disputes through building the consortium with Medical Dispute Conciliation and Arbitration Service. Seventh, the Department of Health has to support the human resources and the fundsope