New Jersey Should Implement Multi-Institutional Ethics Committees

Wesley Smith asks:  "Should Courts or Ethics Committees Decide “Futile” Care Cases?"  He answers:  “That kind of power requires significant check and balances, such as the right of cross examination, a public record, an open and discoverable deliberative process, explicitly stated bases for decisions, and the right to appeal. This doesn’t mean the process needs to start in courts . . . .”

I agree.  The dispute resolution mechanism that NJHA and MSNJ proposed is not something likely to attract judicial endorsement.  Even in the next case (the cleaner case), Betancourt will be cited as the example for why too much discretion ought not be afforded to individual facilities.

I hope that NJHA and MSNJ look at developing multi-institutional (non-intramural) ethics committees to review these intractable disputes.  Indeed, such independent committees already exist in New Jersey in the LTC context.  I thoroughly outlined relevant considerations in this law review article.  And I am continuing this line of inquiry.