The Hospital Ethics Committee Project

 

Professor Ralph Baergen of Idaho State University is working with The Hospital Cooperative to help member institutions who wish to establish their own hospital ethics committees (HECs). Resources will be added to this website explaining how to set up a HEC, what functions it performs, and how to train its members. There will also be material for HECs, clinicians, and patients and their families regarding a variety of common ethical issues. These include how to respond to family members who disagree about whether to continue aggressive treatment, how hospitals should deal with clinicians who refuse to participate in procedures for reasons of conscience, and what hospitals should do when the medical costs of an undocumented immigrant are skyrocketing.

 

On-site training can be scheduled for any member institutions desiring additional assistance in establishing an ethics committee, developing ethics policies, or carrying out case consultations. Contact Professor Baergen for details: baerralp@isu.edu

 

Biographical Information

 

Ralph Baergen received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Syracuse University in 1990, and teaches medical ethics at Idaho State University. His work has appeared in such journals as Obstetrics and Gynecology, Journal of Clinical Ethics, and the Journal of Pediatric Nursing. He has three books to his credit, including Ethics at the End of Life (Wadsworth, 2001). He has been a member of the Pocatello Medical Ethics Committee for more than a decade, and chairs Idaho State University’s Institutional Review Board. His company, Baergen Consulting, provides ethics training for healthcare professionals and social workers.