The Center for Practical Bioethics created the Ethics Committee Consortium (ECC) which is the nation’s oldest continuously operating consortium of its kind. Nearly 500 individuals participate in the ECC, representing an estimated 300 ethics committees serving hospitals, hospices, health systems and other providers.
Ethics committees have three primary functions:
(1) CONSULTATION – To serve as a resource for patients, families and stakeholders to resolve difficult issues that arise in patient care.
(2) EDUCATION – To provide continuing ethics education to the institution and more specialized training to EC members.
(3) POLICY – To participate in institutional policy formation and review to maintain and improve ethical treatment of patients on a systems level.
ECC membership benefits are available to all Center partner organizations, their employees and their volunteers. The majority of individuals who participate in the ECC serve on partner organizations’ ethics committees. ECC membership benefits include:
10 monthly educational ECC webinars throughout the year discussing topics such as autonomy & informed consent, unrepresented patients, end-of-life decision making, and conducting a family meeting
the Ethics Dispatch monthly e-newsletter, offering guidance on ethical issues, case studies and ethical musings
invitations to the annual Clinical Ethics Immersion Workshops
Watch this sample of our webinars. The Ethics and Art of Chart Noting with Laura Guidry-Grimes, PhD, HEC-C, recorded in February 2022.
Read this sample of our Ethics Dispatch. The Ethics of Non-Adherence was published in March 2022. Note the case study section.
Watch this sample of our workshops. This recording is the second part of a two-part workshop, 2022 Medical Ethics Immersion Workshop: Part 2 – Common and Challenging Patient Situations.
By joining the ECC, you can request free copies of Ethics Committee Handbook designed to orient new committee members.
Members of the ECC can utilize our historical ethics committee guidelines and valuable resources about ethics committees.
Please visit our free case studies in our Resource Library now or in the future. We always add new case studies.
By utilizing the Center’s Ethics Services, your organization can become a member of the ECC.
Every dollar you give helps providers, clinicians, patients and families decide what to do when it’s hard to agree about the “right” thing to do.
