Etica e professioni sanitarie in Europa. Un dialogo tra medicina e filosofia

This multilingual volume brings together some of the results of research conducted at the Department of Literature and Philosophy of the University of Trento (Italy), in collaboration with the Bruno Kessler Foundation (Trento, Italy). Topics related to ethics and professions in the healthcare and other fields were covered, analyzed both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. After presenting some introductory thoughts on the distinction between different levels and forms of ethical reflection on healthcare and the significance of the individual moral conscience as far as these levels are concerned, the first part of the book discusses some European traditions in healthcare professional ethics: it includes a Spanish account of different moral traditions in healthcare ethics, a reconstruction of the British experience and evolution of this field, a report on the Belgian contemporary situation, a presentation of the role of the Medical Associations in the German area, a description of the evolution of medical ethics in Croatia and a focus on nursing ethics and medical ethics in Italy. Two empirical studies are then described: one qualitative based on 40 interviews with clinicians, and one quantitative based on a web survey of more than 1,000 physicians; the first was conducted in the Province of Trento, the second in that of Verona (Northern Italy). The book concludes with a number of interviews with clinicians and a philosophical reflection on the nature of the obligations related to the practice of caring. The book is intended to cover the main moral questions faced by clinicians today and to offer a novel self-representation of their work and its ethical meaning in contemporary healthcare practice. Medicine and philosophy have a long history of dialogue: this volume continues that discussion, searching for new ways to combine a strong scientific approach with reflections on the moral and anthropological structures of clinical practice.