Acting on the invitation and with the encouragement of former Vancouver Archbishop Adam Exner and the BC Bishops, we began to move towards the formation of an Ethics Committee for CHABC in the Fall of 1996. All member facilities were invited to send a representative to a planning meeting on December 12, 1996.
At that meeting, we discussed some goals and began the drafting of terms of reference. A first draft was put together at the next meeting, on February 6, 1997. The terms of reference were finalized at the meeting of May 15, 1997, and submitted to the Board of CHABC for approval. Subsequently, these terms of reference were approved by the Board on September 9, 1997. They are printed here for your information:
~ To provide an advisory and educational resource for the Board of CHABC and for Association members for all moral and ethical issues in health care. Thus, the Ethics Committee will act as the conscience of Catholic health care facilities.
Objectives:
~ To identify moral and ethical issues and their urgency and to
seek direction from the Church on these issues.
~ To receive directives from official Church sources and to discuss and devise their practical implementation. *
~ To work towards a common moral and ethical approach in all Catholic health care facilities.
~ To provide continuing education to the Board and to Association members regarding the moral and ethical teaching of the Church.
~ To signal new developments in moral and ethical issues related to health care and to bring them to the committee.
* We note that we already have in place the following guidelines that are normative - - official Church teachings, the CHAC Health Care Ethics Guide and the Archbishop’s Health Care Directives (for the Vancouver Archdiocese).
Membership:
~ The BC Bishops’ representative to CHABC, who shall, ex officio,
be the Chair of the Ethics Committee.
~ The Chair of the CHABC Board of Directors, ex officio.
~ The CHABC Executive Director, ex officio.
~ A designated ethics representative from each member facility, the appointment to be for a renewable two year term.
Organization:
~ The committee will meet at least four times a year. Additional
meetings, as required, may be called at the request of the Chair.
~ The committee will keep minutes, to be kept on file at the CHABC office.
~ The Chair will report to the CHABC Board of Directors at Board meetings.
~ The committee will complete a regular self-evaluation.
Minutes Distribution: The CHABC Executive Director will distribute
~ To all Ethics Committee members.
~ To all CHABC Board members.
~ Advance Directives including BC's Adult Guardianship Legislation
~ Guidelines for artificial nutrition and hydration
~ Security/privacy issues with respect to medical records
~ Contracting out health care services
~ Recording faith affiliation for patients upon admission to hospital
~ Depression
Organ
Donor Awareness Week
 |
Every
year, CHABC's Ethics Committee, in conjunction with BC Transplant
Society, distributes information about the importance of being an
organ donor during Organ Donor Awareness Week in April. In addition
to material provided by BCTS, we distribute information to our members
and to each parish in BC and Yukon about the teachings of the Catholic
Church on organ donations. The Church accepts and promotes organ donations
from those who have died, as well as from the living. These types
of donations do not go against any of the Church's teachings on the
value and dignity of our bodies or the belief in the Resurrection
of the Dead. In 1956, Pope Pius XII taught that such donations are
"morally blameless and even noble". Pope John Paul II carried
on with this teaching, by saying that "the gift of organ donation
is a great act of love". Organ donation saves lives. We are challenged
to consider the Church's words and to respond to God's call to love
and self-giving by becoming an organ donor. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before he became Pope Benedict XVI, revealed that he was a registered organ donor. "To donate one's organs is an act of love that is morally licit, so long as it is free and spontaneous", he said. |