A Survey of Physician Attitude and Knowledge of a Hospital Ethics Committee

Although there are a growing number of ethics committees in the hospital setting, questions remain about their importance and appropriateness. Whether or not their utilization by physicians corroborates this suggested success is unclear. Most of these committees have been created by hospital administrators to fulfill a growing need to address ethical concerns. However, many do not function in an advisory capacity. Existence of ethics committees does not necessarily imply widespread acceptance by physicians. Although the most common function for the committee today is to educate staff and patients alike, acceptance of the committee's advisory role requires a change in physician attitude regarding autonomy in treating patients. This paper will review issues which affect physician utilization of ethics committees. First, a review of those factors encouraging physician usage of hospital ethics committees will be presented. A review of concerns physicians have about these committees will then follow.Master of Public AdministrationPublic AdministrationUniversity of Michigan-Flinthttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143269/1/ThompsonM.pd