A legacy of Osler. Teaching clinical ethics at the bedside
M. Siegler
The teaching of clinical medicine at the bedside is an enduring legacy of
the Oslerian revolution in American education. The advantages of teaching
clinical ethics at the bedside including dealing with actual cases to
maximize personal accountability, reinforcing the relationship between
technical competence and ethical decisions, involving the entire health
care team, and possibly decreasing the resistance of the medical profession
to formal medical ethics. The proposal to teach clinical ethics at the
bedside is intended to indicate a primary role for ethicists and clinicians
at different stages in the medical curriculum. During the preclinical years
of medical school, ethicist-philosophers, assisted by clinicians, should
assume primary responsibility for teaching medical ethics. During the
clinical years, physicians, assisted by clinically informed
ethicist-philosophers, should accept the primary obligation to teach
clinical ethics at the bedside.
