Resources for clinical ethics consultation
Encyclopedia
Clinical ethics support services initially developed in the United States of America, following court cases such as the Karen Quinlan case, which stressed the need for mechanisms to resolve ethical disputes within health care. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requirement for hospitals, nursing homes, and home care agencies to have a standing mechanism to address ethical issues has also fostered this development.
Despite initial doubts as the possibility of importing what was initially felt to be a specificity of the US system, ethics support services have developed in many other countries, including Canada but also various countries in Europe and Asia.
In order to share experience and resources among these clinical ethics consultation and support services, networks and platforms have increasingly developed. This page is intended to summarise existing online resources aimed at assisting new and developing clinical ethics support services. Its goal is to make these resources more easily accessible. Listing in this page does not constitute endorsement of the various contents: users will still need to judge the value of these resources for themselves.
It is reasonable to suppose that these resources will increasingly be international. Because of the role of the English language in international communication, multi-lingual resources whose languages include English are given in their English title. Those not available in English are given in their original language.
Maryland Healthcare Ethics Committee Network
Midwest Ethics Committee Network
Johns Hopkins Research Ethics Consulting Service
British General Medical Council’s Guidance on Good Medical Practice
Listed by country
UK Clinical Ethics Network practical guide for clinical ethics support
University of Washington guide on clinical ethics committees and consultation
Veterans' Administration (US) IntegratedEthics Tools and Materials
Ethics Consultation: from theory to practice (Mark P. Aulisio, Robert M. Arnold, Stuart J. Youngner)
Ethics Consultation (John La Puma, David L. Schiedermayer)
Cambridge textbook of bioethics (Peter A. Singer, Adrian M. Viens)
Clinical bioethics integration, sustainability, and accountability: the Hub and Spokes Strategy by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
Clinical ethics, information, and communication: review of 31 cases from a clinical ethics committee (Norway)
Moral Deliberation in the Netherlands
Clinical ethics consultation in Switzerland
Report on the conference “clinical ethics consultation: theories and methods—implementation—evaluation,” February 11–15, 2008, Bochum, Germany
International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation
Despite initial doubts as the possibility of importing what was initially felt to be a specificity of the US system, ethics support services have developed in many other countries, including Canada but also various countries in Europe and Asia.
In order to share experience and resources among these clinical ethics consultation and support services, networks and platforms have increasingly developed. This page is intended to summarise existing online resources aimed at assisting new and developing clinical ethics support services. Its goal is to make these resources more easily accessible. Listing in this page does not constitute endorsement of the various contents: users will still need to judge the value of these resources for themselves.
It is reasonable to suppose that these resources will increasingly be international. Because of the role of the English language in international communication, multi-lingual resources whose languages include English are given in their English title. Those not available in English are given in their original language.
United States of America
Kansas Health Ethics Committee NetworkMaryland Healthcare Ethics Committee Network
Midwest Ethics Committee Network
Johns Hopkins Research Ethics Consulting Service
World Medical Association
International code of medical ethicsCanada
Canadian Medical Association code of ethicsNew Zealand
New Zealand Medical Association code of ethicsSwitzerland
Medical ethics recommendations of the Swiss Academy of Medical SciencesUnited Kingdom
British Medical Association's Medical Ethics portalBritish General Medical Council’s Guidance on Good Medical Practice
United States of America
American Medical Association code of ethicsClinical ethics committee guidelines
Many clinical ethics support services develop guidelines and advise policy within the health care setting. While the conclusions of consultations regarding individual patients are, of course, confidential, general ethical guidelines and policy advice regarding ethical difficulties which come up repeatedly in clinical care are not. Some ethics support services make these guidelines available online. Adding yours will make these resources more useful!Listed by country
Switzerland
Recommandations du Conseil d'éthique clinique de GenèveMethodological resources
Some networks and consultation services have developed tools, and made them available online. The following sites provide tools, documents, and advice for new or developing clinical ethics support services:UK Clinical Ethics Network practical guide for clinical ethics support
University of Washington guide on clinical ethics committees and consultation
Veterans' Administration (US) IntegratedEthics Tools and Materials
Online books
Principles of Biomedical Ethics (Tom L. Beauchamp, James F. Childress)Ethics Consultation: from theory to practice (Mark P. Aulisio, Robert M. Arnold, Stuart J. Youngner)
Ethics Consultation (John La Puma, David L. Schiedermayer)
Cambridge textbook of bioethics (Peter A. Singer, Adrian M. Viens)
Selected articles
ASBH Task Force on Health Care Ethics Consultation: Nature, Goals, and CompetenciesClinical bioethics integration, sustainability, and accountability: the Hub and Spokes Strategy by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
The University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, or JCB, is an academic research centre located on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Joint Centre for Bioethics is a partnership between the University and 15 affiliated health care organizations in...
Clinical ethics, information, and communication: review of 31 cases from a clinical ethics committee (Norway)
Moral Deliberation in the Netherlands
Clinical ethics consultation in Switzerland
Report on the conference “clinical ethics consultation: theories and methods—implementation—evaluation,” February 11–15, 2008, Bochum, Germany
English
Skill Building in Ethics Case Consultation at the Neiswanger InstituteFrench
Études de cas du Conseil d'éthique clinique de GenèveInternational and national conferences
International Association of BioethicsInternational Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation
Switzerland
Société Suisse d'Éthique Biomédicale / Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Biomedizinische EthikUnited States of America
American Society for Bioethics and the HumanitiesSee also
- BioethicsBioethicsBioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy....
- Medical EthicsMedical ethicsMedical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.-History:Historically,...
- Nursing ethicsNursing ethicsNursing ethics is a branch of applied ethics that concerns itself with activities in the field of nursing. Nursing ethics shares many principles with medical ethics, such as beneficence, non-maleficence and respect for autonomy...
- AutonomyAutonomyAutonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
- PrinciplismPrinciplismPrinciplism is a system of ethics based on the four moral principles of:1. Autonomy--free-will or agency,2. Beneficence--to do good,3. Nonmaleficence--not to harm, and4...
- Advance health care directive
- Informed ConsentInformed consentInformed consent is a phrase often used in law to indicate that the consent a person gives meets certain minimum standards. As a literal matter, in the absence of fraud, it is redundant. An informed consent can be said to have been given based upon a clear appreciation and understanding of the...
- Evidence-based medical ethicsEvidence-based medical ethicsEvidence-based medical ethics is a form of medical ethics that uses knowledge from ethical principles, legal precedent, and evidence-based medicine to draw solutions to ethical dilemmas in the health care field. Sometimes this is also referred to as argument-based medical ethics. It is also the...
- Do not resuscitateDo not resuscitateIn medicine, a "do not resuscitate" or "DNR" is a legal order written either in the hospital or on a legal form to respect the wishes of a patient to not undergo CPR or advanced cardiac life support if their heart were to stop or they were to stop breathing...
- EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEuthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
- Karen Quinlan
- Assisted SuicideAssisted suicideAssisted suicide is the common term for actions by which an individual helps another person voluntarily bring about his or her own death. "Assistance" may mean providing one with the means to end one's own life, but may extend to other actions. It differs to euthanasia where another person ends...
- Ethical issues in psychiatryEthical issues in psychiatryEthical issues in psychiatry are discussed in existing articles about:*Issues of professional ethics in psychiatry*Scientology and psychiatry and its initiatives, such as CCHR's work on "psychiatric abuse"*Anti-psychiatry and its criticisms...
- Arthur CaplanArthur CaplanArthur L. Caplan, Ph.D., is Emmanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to Penn in 1994, Caplan taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University. He was the...
- Ruth FadenRuth FadenRuth R. Faden, M.P.H., Ph.D., is the Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Executive Director of The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. She is also a Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University.She has...
- Ross Upshur
- Joseph FinsJoseph FinsJoseph Jack Fins is an American physician and medical ethicist. He is Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College where he serves as The E. William Davis, Jr., M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics, and Professor of Medicine, Professor of...
- Edmund D. PellegrinoEdmund D. PellegrinoEdmund Daniel Pellegrino was the 11th president of The Catholic University of America and the second layman to hold the position....
- Jonathan D. MorenoJonathan D. MorenoJonathan D. Moreno is a philosopher and historian who specializes in the intersection of bioethics, culture, science, and national security, and has published seminal works on the history, sociology and politics of biology and medicine....
- University of Toronto Joint Centre for BioethicsUniversity of Toronto Joint Centre for BioethicsThe University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, or JCB, is an academic research centre located on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Joint Centre for Bioethics is a partnership between the University and 15 affiliated health care organizations in...
Further reading
- Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyStanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a freely-accessible online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, including professors from over 65 academic institutions worldwide...
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