How Ethics Can Support Clinicians Caring for Critically Ill Patients

As a field, clinical ethics has made significant progress in the past 50 years. There is evidence, however, that ethical conflict and uncertainty are still major contributors to challenges faced in critical care and emergency medicine practice, resulting in stress on clinicians and potentially detrimental impacts on patient care. Additionally, as technology continues to progress and evolve, so do the ethical questions that arise. In this chapter, we begin by providing a brief background on clinical ethics. Then, using clinical vignettes, we examine the ways in which the tools of ethics can help the bedside clinician. For each case, we review general ethical frameworks and areas of consensus to which clinicians can turn for guidance. We also highlight ongoing challenges with the prevailing frameworks, and areas where there is still work to be done.