Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications
Language
English
Publication Date
9-1-2025
Journal
HEC Forum
DOI
10.1007/s10730-024-09544-3
PMID
39611879
PMCID
PMC12313721
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
11-29-2024
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Abstract
The concept ethics defines health care ethics as a professional practice. Yet the meaning of "ethics" is often unclear in the theory and practice of clinical ethics. Clarity on this matter is crucial for understanding the nature of clinical ethics and for debates about the professional identity and proper role of ethicists, the sort of training and skills they should possess, and whether they have ethics expertise. This article examines two different ways the ethics of clinical ethics can be understood: Real Ethics, which consists of objective moral norms grounded in moral truth; and Conventional Ethics, which consists of conventional norms grounded in bioethical consensus. Drawing on the bioethics literature and features of professional practice, it shows that Conventional Ethics is the dominant paradigm. Then it presents a critique of Conventional Ethics, arguing that it cannot avoid the challenge of moral pluralism, it fails to address vitally important moral questions, and it is incapable of providing an essential service to the people ethicists aim to help. It ends with suggestions about how the practice of clinical ethics might overcome these problems.
Keywords
Humans, Ethics, Clinical, Morals
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Matthew Shea, "The Ethics of Clinical Ethics" (2025). Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications. 40.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/med_ethics/40