Clinical ethics

We want to help all those involved by taking a reflected and neutral view and support patients and families in making decisions in difficult situations.

We focus on questions such as:

• Should a specific therapy with numerous side effects be continued even if a cure is not possible?
• What should be done when adolescent patients have differing opinions to their parents?
• Can an advance directive also be effective in an emergency? What should be done if no advance directive has been written and there is a crisis situation?
• What are the options when the treating physicians have differing opinions?
• How should patients who were forcibly confined be supported?
• How should culturally different conceptions of health and disease be dealt with?

More information

he clinical ethics team also offers training sessions for employees at the University Hospital Zurich. The clinical ethics committee and all other responsible parties formulate key recommendations and guidance on relevant ethical issues affecting the entire hospital. We work with national and international bodies and are involved in various research projects in the field of clinical ethics.