Obligations of Hospital Trustees

Abstract

At a series of recent workshops, sponsored by the Hastings Center, on the legal and ethical responsibilities of hospital trustees, the moral implications of budget cuts emerged as a serious concern. Trustees are increasingly being forced to make tough resource allocation decisions, which create tensions in their interrelationships with physicians and hospital administrators. It is suggested that none of these groups has had the experience or training needed to balance ethical and economic demands. (KIE abstract)