title: Where families and healthcare meet.
abstract: Recent developments in professional healthcare pose moral problems that standard bioethics cannot even identify as problems, but that are fully visible when redefined as problems in the ethics of families. Here, we add to the growing body of work that began in the 1990 s by demonstrating the need for a distinctive ethics of families. First, we discuss what 'family' means and why families can matter so deeply to the lives of those within them. Then, we briefly sketch how, according to an ethics of families, responsibilities must be negotiated against the backdrop of family relationships, treatment decisions must be made in the light of these negotiated responsibilities and justice must be served, both between families and society more generally and within families themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Verkerk
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, The Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Hilde
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lindemann
authors.affiliation: The Policy Ethics and Life Sciences (PEALS) Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.affiliation: The Policy Ethics and Life Sciences (PEALS) Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Jackie Leach
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Scully
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics at Uppsala University (CRB), Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulrik
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kihlbom
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, The Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE) at The National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Health System, Clinical Research Centre, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000941:ethics*; D028663:Ethical Theory; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005192:Family Health / Q000941:ethics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D028681:Moral Obligations; D012380:Role; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000458:organization & administration
keywords: Ethics; Family