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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Anne Slowther
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer in Clinical Ethics University of Warwick Medical School Coventry, UK
Peter A. Singer
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
A. M. Viens
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

Clinicians have many different roles in the provision of healthcare, including individual patient care, public health delivery, health services management, and policy development. Each of these roles involves complex decisions and interactions that require ethical reflection. However, for the majority of clinicians, those who provide day-to-day care in hospitals, clinics, and patients' homes, it is the relationship with individual patients that forms the professional and ethical core of their work. It is this relationship that initially attracted attention from ethicists as the field of clinical ethics developed, and which has been the main focus of regulatory guidance from professional organizations. This section focuses on three key concepts that define this relationship, namely consent, confidentiality, and truth telling.

A common thread that runs through these three aspects of the patient–clinician relationship is the importance and use of information. Patients provide information to their clinicians about their symptoms, their concerns, and their expectations of what the clinician can do to help them. Clinicians take this information, and then seek further information to develop a differential diagnosis of the patient's problem, select appropriate investigations, and identify possible treatments or management plans. Clinicians provide information to their patients about diagnoses, investigations, treatment options, progress, and outcomes. The therapeutic relationship is thus founded on sharing of information. The way in which information is used by both patient and clinician within this relationship is explored in the following chapters.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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  • Introduction
    • By Anne Slowther, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Ethics University of Warwick Medical School Coventry, UK
  • Edited by Peter A. Singer, University of Toronto, A. M. Viens, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545566.002
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  • Introduction
    • By Anne Slowther, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Ethics University of Warwick Medical School Coventry, UK
  • Edited by Peter A. Singer, University of Toronto, A. M. Viens, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545566.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
    • By Anne Slowther, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Ethics University of Warwick Medical School Coventry, UK
  • Edited by Peter A. Singer, University of Toronto, A. M. Viens, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545566.002
Available formats
×