Handbook for Health Care Ethics Committees » (New Edition)

Linda Farber Post is a clinical ethicist and educator, formerly at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Jeffrey Blustein is a professor of bioethics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a clinical ethicist at both the Einstein and Moses Divisions of Montefiore Medical Center. Nancy Neveloff Dubler is the director of the Division of Bioethics at Montefiore Medical Center and a professor of epidemiology and population health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Handbook for Health Care Ethics Committees is the first resource designed expressly to address the range of work performed by ethics committees as part of their multiple responsibilities, including education, case consultation, and policy development.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Barbara Hinze, PhD(c)(Saint Louis University)
Description:Due to considerable demands on their time, healthcare ethics committee members may sometimes find it challenging to acquire additional education and skills requisite for fashioning their committee into a more effective resource for their institution. In light of this challenge, the authors have written this book.
Purpose:Intending this as a handbook, the authors guide committee members regarding particular ethical issues as well as committee responsibilities.
Audience:Drawing from considerable expertise and experience, the authors write in a clear and engaging style. Their thorough coverage of issues and responsibilities should be helpful for those who are relatively new to the work of healthcare ethics committees.
Features:The authors outline ethics consultation models, consider cases, and discuss the usefulness of white papers, memoranda, guidelines, and protocols. Also helpful are the samples of policies and procedures, examples of institutional codes of ethics, and references to legal cases. Furthermore, the authors provide an insightful illustration of how an ideal committee meeting might be conducted.
Assessment:It might be noted that the handbook does reflect the authors' preference for a principlist approach to bioethics, as well as a tendency to exaggerate consensus among bioethicists. An example of this is the authors' position on the moral rights to healthcare. Readers should be aware that this book, as any work of this nature, is not completely neutral in its approach to how particular issues should be framed. Although not intended as a one-stop reference or textbook for healthcare ethics committees, this is an excellent starting point. It is particularly helpful for those who might not have easy access to other sources of bioethics expertise. Essentially, the handbook creates a framework of resources for those committees assessing their own work. The authors serve their audience well and this book is a valuable addition to the library of every healthcare ethics committee.