The Bioethics Service of the General Hospital of Padua: an Italian Experience of Clinical Ethics Consultation and Education.

Abstract

This article presents the Bioethics Service (Servizio di Bioetica) of the General Hospital of Padua (Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova) within the International context of the clinical ethics consultation, about which the article gives an overall and synthetic view.

Clinical ethics consultation began to develope in the late 1960s especially in North America and can be defined as a service provided by an individual consultant, team or committee to address the ethical issues involved in a specific clinical case.

The history of the clinical ethics consultation is closely linked to the history of the Hospital Ethics Committees, since clinical ethics consultation in part embodies an attempt to overcome some limits recognized in the Committees and to redefine their functions. From this point of view, some suggest the presence, in hospitals, of both consultation services and committees, having complementary roles focused respectively on consultation and elaboration of guidelines, and having distinct roles as to education.

The Bioethics Service of Padua, active since September 1996, is alone in Italy particularly because it does not report to an ethical committee. Its main objectives are: ethics consulting addressed to health workers; etical education of health workers; elaborating guidelines with the cooperation of ethics committees active in Padua; defining a plan for the establishment of an Ethics Committee within the General Hospital.

Up to now the Service activity has involved consulting and education, intentionally chosen as priorities. The results has been positive.