Should ethics consultants help clinicians face scarcity in their practice?

Full Abstract

In an international survey of rationing we have found that European physicians encounter scarcity-related ethical difficulties, and are dissatified with the resolution of many of these cases. Here we further examine survey results to explore whether ethics support services would be potentially useful in addressing scarcity related ethical dilemmas. Results indicate that while the type of help offered by ethics support services was considered helpful by physicians, they rarely referred difficulties regarding scarcity to ethics consultation. We propose that ethics consultants could assist physicians by making the process less difficult, and by contributing to decisions being more ethically justifiable. Expertise in bringing considerations of justice to bear on real cases could also be useful in recognising an unjust limit, as opposed to a merely frustrating limit. Though these situations are unlikely to be among the most frequently referred to ethics support services, ethics consultants should be prepared to address them.

Author information

Author/s: Hurst, S A (SA); Reiter-Theil, S (S); Slowther, A-M (AM); Pegoraro, R (R); Forde, R (R); Danis, M (M);

Affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Geneva MedicalSchool, Geneva, Switzerland.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of medical ethics (J Med Ethics), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Apr; vol 34 (issue 4) : pp 241-6

Dates: Created 2008/03/31; Completed 2008/07/24;

PMID: 18375673, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.