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Clinical-ethical Decision-making Process
Dr. Erdem AYDIN,a Y.Hem.Dr. Nermin ERSOYb
aDeontoloji-Tıbbi Etik AD, Akdeniz Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, ANTALYAbDeontoloji AD, Kocaeli Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, KOCAELİ
One of the basic issues of medical ethics is how physicians make a clinical-ethical decision. Different methods related to ethical decision-making process are suggested. But there are many common elements of those methods. In our study, we have evaluated decision-making process in four steps. These are; 1) Defining an ethical problem: There are various factors which define an ethical problem. First of all, ethical aspect of the problem has to be distinguished from other aspects. Secondly medical data have to be collected and evaluated. The ethical problem must be evaluated with some ethical elements like principles, rules, ethics code, at last. 2) This step which deals with the patients wishes, includes the issues, such as whether a patient has been informed sufficiently or not, and whether his consent has been obtained according to the principles or not. 3) Defining alternative decisions and choise: After the previous steps, a physician could be faced with a lot of favorable decisions according to ethics. 4) Justification of ethical decision: In the final step, a physician ought to justify his decision. In this issue, the crucial point is to perform the physician’s own ethical obligation.Keywords: Clinical ethics, ethical decision making, physician-patient relationshipTurkiye Klinikleri J Med Ethics 1995,1:12-16
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