title: Resources for clinical ethics consultation
text: # Resources for clinical ethics consultation
  
  Clinical ethics support services initially developed in the United States of America, following court cases such as the Karen Ann Quinlan case, which stressed the need for mechanisms to resolve ethical disputes within health care. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requirement for hospitals, nursing homes, and home care agencies to have a standing mechanism to address ethical issues has also fostered this development (this requirement no longer appears in the Joint Commission regulations, however).
  
  Despite initial doubts as the possibility of importing what was initially felt to be a specificity of the US system, ethics support services have developed in many other countries, including Canada but also various countries in Europe and Asia.
  
  In order to share experience and resources among these clinical research ethics consultation and support services, networks and platforms have increasingly developed. This page is intended to summarise existing online resources aimed at assisting new and developing clinical ethics support services. Its goal is to make these resources more easily accessible. Listing in this page does not constitute endorsement of the various contents: users will still need to judge the value of these resources for themselves.
  
  It is reasonable to suppose that these resources will increasingly be international. Because of the role of the English language in international communication, multi-lingual resources whose languages include English are given in their English title. Those not available in English are given in their original language.
  
  ## Clinical ethics consultation networks
  
  Listed by country
  
  ### Canada
  
  Provincial Health Ethics Network (Alberta)
  
  ### United Kingdom
  
  UK clinical ethics network
  
  ### United States
  
  Center for Practical Bioethics
  
  Kansas Health Ethics Committee Network
  
  Maryland Healthcare Ethics Committee Network
  
  Midwest Ethics Committee Network
  
  Johns Hopkins Research Ethics Consulting Service
  
  ## National and international guidelines on clinical ethics
  
  Listed by country
  
  ### World Medical Association
  
  International code of medical ethics
  
  ### Australia
  
  Australian Medical Association code of ethics
  
  ### Canada
  
  Canadian Medical Association code of ethics
  
  ### India
  
  Medical Council of India code of ethics
  
  ### New Zealand
  
  New Zealand Medical Association code of ethics
  
  ### Switzerland
  
  Medical ethics recommendations of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences
  
  ### United Kingdom
  
  British Medical Association's Medical Ethics portal
  
  British General Medical Council’s Guidance on Good Medical Practice
  
  ### United States
  
  Center for Practical Bioethics
  
  American Medical Association code of ethics
  
  ## Clinical ethics committee guidelines
  
  Many clinical ethics support services develop guidelines and advise policy within the health care setting. While the conclusions of consultations regarding individual patients are, of course, confidential, general ethical guidelines and policy advice regarding ethical difficulties which come up repeatedly in clinical care are not. Some ethics support services make these guidelines available online. Adding yours will make these resources more useful!
  
  Listed by country
  
  ### Switzerland
  
  Recommandations du Conseil d'éthique clinique de Genève
  
  ### United States
  
  Center for Practical Bioethics
  
  ## Methodological resources
  
  Some networks and consultation services have developed tools and guidelines for the practice of clinical ethics consultation, and made them available online. The following sites provide tools, documents, and advice for new or developing clinical ethics support services:
  
  ### Switzerland
  
  Recommandations on "Ethics Support in medicine" from the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences
  
  ### United Kingdom
  
  UK Clinical Ethics Network practical guide for clinical ethics support
  
  ### United States
  
  University of Washington guide on clinical ethics committees and consultation
  
  Veterans' Administration (US) IntegratedEthics Tools and Materials
  
  ## Online books
  
  Principles of Biomedical Ethics (Tom L. Beauchamp, James F. Childress)
  
  Ethics Consultation: from theory to practice (Mark P. Aulisio, Robert M. Arnold, Stuart J. Youngner)
  
  Ethics Consultation (John La Puma, David L. Schiedermayer)
  
  Cambridge textbook of bioethics (Peter A. Singer, Adrian M. Viens)
  
  ## Selected articles
  
  ASBH Task Force on Health Care Ethics Consultation: Nature, Goals, and Competencies
  
  Clinical bioethics integration, sustainability, and accountability: the Hub and Spokes Strategy by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
  
  Clinical ethics, information, and communication: review of 31 cases from a clinical ethics committee (Norway)
  
  Moral Deliberation in the Netherlands
  
  Clinical ethics consultation in Switzerland
  
  Report on the conference “clinical ethics consultation: theories and methods—implementation—evaluation,” February 11–15, 2008, Bochum, Germany
  
  ## Online tutorials
  
  Listed by language
  
  ### English
  
  Skill Building in Ethics Case Consultation at the Neiswanger Institute
  
  ### French
  
  Études de cas du Conseil d'éthique clinique de Genève
  
  ## International and national conferences
  
  International Association of Bioethics
  
  International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation
  
  ### Canada
  
  Canadian Bioethics Society
  
  ### Switzerland
  
  Société Suisse d'Éthique Biomédicale / Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Biomedizinische Ethik
  
  ### United States
  
  American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities
  
  