ABSTRACT
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations is the national agency that grants accreditation for hospitals and other health care institutions in the United States. Since January of 1992, this accrediting agency has required that hospitals and other health care organizations establish institutional ethics committees, which address questions concerning patients’ rights and organizational ethics. This requirement reflects in a formal way what has been taking place within hospitals throughout the United States for the past forty years, since the dawn of the modern bioethics movement. Hospital ethics committees have already become commonplace within the United States and are playing a vital role in addressing bioethical questions within the hospital setting. These ethics committees not only educate institutions and health care professionals regarding major bioethical issues but they also offer consultation services to patients and health care professionals who are grappling with difficult cases.
