Hospital ethics committees: is it time to expand our access to managed care organizations?

Hospital ethics committees provide important services to their institutions, often including review of clinical cases for which an ethical issue or dilemma has been recognized.Traditionally, such case reviews or consults by the ethics committee may be called by the patient and/or family and institutional healthcare providers. Recently, managed care organizations have requested an ethics committee case review at a Chicago area institution. This article will explore whether or not the time has come to expand hospital ethics committees access to managed care organizations.