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Dealing with the Normative Dimension in Clinical Ethics Consultation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2009

STELLA REITER-THEIL
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Extract

Clinical ethics consultation (CEC) not only interprets moral issues at the bedside and is not restricted to giving support for the “technical” handling of these moral issues, but it has to substantively address moral values, norms, and conflicts in the process of discussing cases and problems. We call this the normative dimension and use normative in the sense of embracing moral values and convictions of persons and groups, norms, and relevant professional and ethical guidelines as well as legal frameworks. The roles and activities of the consultant as a person and the quality of CEC as a process are discussed in the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities’ (ASBH) Core Competences for Healthcare Ethics Consultation.

Type
Special Section: Coming of Age in Clinical Ethics Consultation: Time for Assessment and Evaluation
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , October 2009 , pp. 347 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

1. The article focuses on the moral norms and on norms formulated in texts such as (ethics) guidelines, rather than on legal norms.

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19. See note 17, Reiter-Theil 1998.

20. See note 2, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities 1998.

21. To avoid misunderstanding, this inventory is not meant to guide the process of CEC as a stepwise “method”; rather, it should help in understanding the complex process of CEC and facilitating comparative discussion.

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23. See note 2, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities 1998.

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32. The classes of the European Master in Bioethics and the Erasmus program have approximately 20 to 30 participants.

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37. See note 6, Kobert et al. 2008.