醫院醫學倫理委員會之推廣與運作

The Functions of Medical Ethics Committee in Hospitals

10.6145/jme.200603_10(1).0010

戴正德(Michael Cheng-Tek Tai)

bioethics ； ethical consultation ； structure and function of ethical committee

Journal of Medical Education

10卷1期（2006 / 03 / 01）

77 - 85

繁體中文

The rapid development of biotechnology and the breakthrough in medical sciences have catalyzed the renaissance of medical ethics. The word ”bioethics” has been coined since 1970 to mark a beginning of this new discipline. Not only bioethics and its related courses become compulsory in medical schools, dental, nursing and even business schools also provide study opportunities for their students. The progress of medical technology however, brought many issues and dilemmas that health professionals had never been confronted before such as whether or not to keep an incurable patient alive on a life-sustaining machine. This has troubled medical doctors as well as patients families. Thus, a counseling guidance to help patients, families and doctors make good decision becomes desirable. The suggestion to establish an ethical committee to promote a harmonious physician-patient relationship and to ensure ethical decision-making in clinical setting was first recommended in the 80's in the U. S and soon the committee sprung up almost all parts of the western world. The Ministry of Health of Taiwan established Taiwan's first medical ethics committee in 2001 and the Ministry of Health encouraged all teaching hospitals to do the same in 2004. Its mandates include regulating ethical norms, promoting clinical ethics, fostering an bioethical awareness, examining the clinical behavior of health professionals, honoring virtuous health worker... etc. This paper is the result of a survey done in the fall of 2004 to all teaching hospitals in Taiwan to see how their medical ethics committees are functioning. All hospitals recognized the importance of medical ethics. Yet somehow they are unsure about its structure and function. This author recommends that besides ethical-consciousness-awareness, the medical ethics committee should also serve as an ethical consultant to provide help to health workers and patients when requested.

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