Ethical Frameworks
Various approaches have been proposed to undertake clinical ethics case consultations in a structured way. On these pages, you will find some examples of ethical frameworks that you might wish to adopt when advising on cases.
This section is designed to help you to differentiate between different frameworks, and then to consider how the main frameworks might be applied, in a practical way.
If you are joining a clinical ethics service, such as a Clinical Ethics Committee, you will likely find that the committee adopts one of these frameworks, or a variation of it. If not, you might want to consider implementing one of these frameworks to shape case consultation work on your committee.
Introduction
Introduction to different types of ethical frameworks and the value of using a framework:
Examples of frameworks
Examples of ethical frameworks for use by clinical ethics services:
Click here to download a PDF with further information about ethical frameworks, including worked-through examples of how each of the different frameworks would approach the ethical analysis of a case.