Since the 1980s, increasing numbers of hospitals in the United States have formed internal ethics committees to help doctors and other health care professionals deal with complicated ethical questions, especially those regarding the end of a life. But it is only in recent years that German hospitals have followed suit. In Conflicts of Care, Helen Kohlen offers the first comprehensive look at the origin and function of these committees in German hospitals. Using a mix of archival research, participant observation, and interviews, Kohlen explores the debates that surrounded their formation and the functions they have taken on since their creation.
Table of Contents
Introduction
I State of the Art, Theoretical Framework and Methodological Considerations
1 State of the Art in Social Science Research
2 Theoretical Framework and Research Design
3 Method and Sources of Information
First Part- Historical Analysis
Bioethics and Hospital Ethics Committees
II US- American Bioethics and the Move into the Practical Arena
I State of the Art, Theoretical Framework and Methodological Considerations
1 State of the Art in Social Science Research
2 Theoretical Framework and Research Design
3 Method and Sources of Information
First Part- Historical Analysis
Bioethics and Hospital Ethics Committees
II US- American Bioethics and the Move into the Practical Arena
1 “Bioethics is not just Bioethics”: Its Make and (Un) Concerns
2 The Move of Bioethics into the Practical Arena: “Strangers at the Bedside”
III Traces and Beginnings of Institutionalised Consultation by Committees: Local and
Governmental
1 Traces of Institutionalised Consultation Committees
2 From Professional Ethical Standards to Governmental Intervention
IV The Development of Contemporary Hospital Ethics Committees from the US to Germany
1 The Story of Karen Quinlan
2 Multidisciplinary Advisory Committees as Physicians’ Prognosis Committees
3 Types of Hospital Ethics Committees: From an Ad-hoc Committee to an Optimum Care Committee at Boston Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
4 The President’s Commission and its Support of Hospital Ethics Committees
5 From the “Baby Does’ Cases” to Infant Bioethical Review Committees
6 Statutory Authority for Hospital Ethics Committees, Bureaucratisation and Evaluation
7 The Talk and its Performance in Hospital Ethics Committees
8 The German Development: A Re-Make of the US- American Model
Summary
Second Part - Relational Analysis
Care and Hospital Ethics Committees
V Transitions of the Care–Ethics-Debate and Nursing since 1980
1 Caring as a Women orientated Ethics and a Feminine Concept
2 Caring as a Foundational Concept for a Theory of Nursing Ethics
3 Care Ethics from a Nursing Perspective in Germany
VI Feminist and Nursing Studies in Care- Ethics since 1990
1 Caring as a Social Practice from a Feminist Political Science Perspective
2 Nursing Practices of Care: Competence and Clinical Realizations
2 The Move of Bioethics into the Practical Arena: “Strangers at the Bedside”
III Traces and Beginnings of Institutionalised Consultation by Committees: Local and
Governmental
1 Traces of Institutionalised Consultation Committees
2 From Professional Ethical Standards to Governmental Intervention
IV The Development of Contemporary Hospital Ethics Committees from the US to Germany
1 The Story of Karen Quinlan
2 Multidisciplinary Advisory Committees as Physicians’ Prognosis Committees
3 Types of Hospital Ethics Committees: From an Ad-hoc Committee to an Optimum Care Committee at Boston Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
4 The President’s Commission and its Support of Hospital Ethics Committees
5 From the “Baby Does’ Cases” to Infant Bioethical Review Committees
6 Statutory Authority for Hospital Ethics Committees, Bureaucratisation and Evaluation
7 The Talk and its Performance in Hospital Ethics Committees
8 The German Development: A Re-Make of the US- American Model
Summary
Second Part - Relational Analysis
Care and Hospital Ethics Committees
V Transitions of the Care–Ethics-Debate and Nursing since 1980
1 Caring as a Women orientated Ethics and a Feminine Concept
2 Caring as a Foundational Concept for a Theory of Nursing Ethics
3 Care Ethics from a Nursing Perspective in Germany
VI Feminist and Nursing Studies in Care- Ethics since 1990
1 Caring as a Social Practice from a Feminist Political Science Perspective
2 Nursing Practices of Care: Competence and Clinical Realizations