Kansas City Area Ethics Committee Consortium

The Kansas City Area Ethics Committee Consortium is the oldest operating ethics committee consortium in the nation. The consortium serves as a support and network for ethics committees throughout the Kansas City region.

It has become the research and development arm of the Center through its vigorous discussion of ethical issues and its preparation of guidelines documents for issues such as withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, implementation of the Patient's Self-Determination Act (PSDA), and minors' rights in healthcare decision making.

In 2005, the consortium began working on guidelines for medical futility. A final document is expected in 2006.

Meeting every other month, the consortium has developed an innovative model for determining decisional incapacity and has developed a resource manual for improving the care of seriously ill and dying patients by overcoming barriers to effective palliative care.

The Ethics Committee Consortium meets at 5:30 P.M. on the first Thursday of the month in January, March, May, July, Sept, and November.

Ethics Consortium Celebrates 20 years of Service

The Kansas City Regional Hospital Ethics Committee Consortium was formed in 1986 when hospital ethics committees in the Kansas City region, most often formed and trained by the Center for Practical Bioethics, asked the Center to coordinate bimonthly meetings of ethics committee representatives.

Twenty years later, the consortium is the largest and longest operating network of its kind in the nation. For the full story, click here.