Hospital ethics committees

The hospital ethics committee (HEC) is an entity that arose relatively recently, in the 1980s, in response to various concerns about how to choose the ethically correct path in dealing with a wide range of novel situations being brought about by the advances of medicine. This article recounts the hospital ethics committee's historical background, briefly defines its nature, describes the Argentine experience with it to the present, reviews existing guidelines for organizing and operating an HEC, and makes a number of recommendations designed to heighten awareness of the HEC's potential and promote its use.