A Study on Guidelines and Plans for Activating of Clinical Ethics Consultation in Catholic health care Institutions

In the pluralistic society where the medical technology is highly advanced, the role of clinical ethics consultation that helps to solve the ethical conflicts in health care is getting important. Clinical ethics consultation is an activity to support informed, deliberative decision making on the part of patients, families, and the health care team in the patient care. In Korea, clinical ethics consultation was regulated as an activity of the institutional ethics committee with the enforcement of the 「Act on Hospice and Palliative Care and Decisions on Life-sustaining Treatment for Patients at the End of Life」 in 2018, However, most health care institutions in Korea do not provide clinical ethics consultation, and this situation is the same even for Catholic health care institutions, which account for 8 percent of health care in Korea. In particular, Catholic health care institutions should be able to provide effective ethical consultation with specific ethical guidelines and activation plans that are consistent with Catholic spirituality, even in the midst of rapid medical development and social/institutional changes. Therefore, it is judged appropriate to apply the 『Ethics and Religious Directive for catholic Health Care Service : ERDs』 published by United Conference of Catholic Bishops as an appropriate model for the corresponding ethical guidelines. In addition, the specific case of the Catholic Medical Center, which is making progress in activating clinical ethics consultation, can suggest a direction for the activation of clinical ethics consultation in other Catholic healthcare institutions and can be a exemple worth sharing with all medical institutions pursuing holistic health care. If clinical ethics advice is activated and properly operated in Catholic health care institutions, it will become the conscience of the institution communicating to realize the best interests of patients, and high quality health care services will be achieved by protecting the rights and conscience of medical staff. This will be of great help in protecting the identity of a Catholic health care institution serving human dignity and value in the increasingly industrialized medical field.