The Role Of The Hospital Ethics Committee In China

As the development of medical technology, a lot of difficult ethical problems have occurredin the medical area, which makes it necessary to use medical ethics to study and solve theseproblems. However, any good scientific medical ethics theory is abstract. The only way tomake best use of it is to turn the abstract ethical theory into concrete rules, which can be putinto practice. The hospital ethics committee is a organization which can turn the principles ofmedical ethics into practice and solve the difficult medical ethical problems. Some foreigncountries have built the hospital ethics committee in the70s, which have played an importantrole in the medical practice. In China, as the development of the medical technology and thegrowing needs in reality, many hospitals and other medical organizations have built themedical ethics committee.Based on the related researches, this paper makes a study of the importance of the hospitalethics committee based on its development in China. We think that the hospital ethicscommittee, which is one type of the many medical ethics committees, is the platform to putmedical ethical theory into practice. The hospital ethics committee has gone through twostages in China. The first stage is the initial development. The second stage is about growingstrong. The hospital ethics committee in China is democratic, independent and powerful. Itsimportance is based on many principles and functions.The importance of hospital ethics committee in China is shown in the following fouraspects. In terms of the development of hospital, it can help the hospital make ethical policies,provide ethical introductions for the development of the hospital, improve the service qualityof the hospital, increase the reputation of the hospital, help the hospital solve the problemsbetween the hospital and patients, and provide a harmonic environment for the developmentof the hospital. The hospital ethics committees can also play roles in improving the medicalresearchers’ understanding of medical ethics and protecting the rights of patients and testers.However, the hospital ethics committees have limitations in the following five aspects. Therange of the effects is limited. The effects of the committees are not balanced. The effects ofthe committees are not made fully use of. The people which the committees benefit are limited. The effects of the committees are easy to be disturbed by other people. Theselimitations are due to many reasons. First of all, it’s due to the incompleteness of the policiesand current laws. Secondly, it’s due to the lacking of managements inside and outside thecommittee. Thirdly, it’s due to the problems of organizations inside the committee. Finally,it’s due to the incompleteness of the functions, which are imbalances and not enough.This paper has brought out the following methods to further develop the hospital ethicscommittee in China. First of all, related policies and higher-level laws should be completed.Secondly, the management of the hospital ethics committees should be strengthened. Theoutside management from the health department and the society should be strengthened. Theinside management from the committees and the medical organizations the committeesbelonging to should also be strengthened. Thirdly, the hospital ethics committees shouldcomplete its own organizations. Finally, the hospital ethics committees should complete itsfunctions, including educational function, management function, consulting function andcommunicating function.After all, building hospital ethics committee is the right way to put medical ethical theoryinto practice. But since the hospital ethics committee is a new thing in China, there are will bemany problems in practice. It’s necessary to further explore better and more scientificmethods to make the hospital ethical committee function better.