The State of Hospice Ethics Committees and the Social Work Role

Abstract

This study found that in six states, most hospices (73 percent) had access to some type of ethics committee; however, less than 1/3 maintain a hospice-specific ethics committee. Social workers, although integral to the hospice team, were only members of about one-half of the hospice committees. Further, the study examined social workers' current participation and role expectations of social workers and committee chairs for social work participation. Both groups viewed that social workers were important contributors and expected higher participation in all the three main activity areas—case consultation, policy, and education—than currently took place. As the particular skills and values of social work parallel both the purpose of ethics committees and hospice philosophy, and as these data suggest, opportunity exists for social workers to take on a greater role on hospice ethics committee and may be an important resource in the formation of such committees.