Abstract
Ethics support in care facilities
Two interrelated paths for supporting ethics in care facilities are proposed. The first path concerns the committees or working groups on ethics. The legal provisions for official medical ethics committees are discussed, as well as the search for concrete ways of operating in the practice of care facilities. Ethics committees or working groups have, in the opinion of the author, 4 tasks: advising on research projects, formulating general care opinions, giving individual advice on cases and finally organizing ethical education and awareness for care providers.
The second path involves moral deliberation in the workplace. It is described how care providers can be supported to reflect themselves on ethical questions in their work situation, using an ethical method. Exploratory and analytical methods for moral deliberation are distinguished and the method ‘values in dialogue’ is elaborated. This method has strong ethical foundations and involves a value test.
An important condition for these 2 paths of ethics support is the appointment of ethics reference persons who have ethics expertise, help realize the tasks of the ethics committee or working group and accompany moral deliberation in the care facility.