La consulenza bioetica al letto del malato: l’esperienza del Servizio di Etica clinica presso la Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli” IRCCS – Roma

The article deals with the experience of the Clinical Ethics Consultation Service (CEC Service) of the Institute of Bioethics and Medical Humanities of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart for the University Hospital Foundation “Agostino Gemelli” IRCCS (FPG) of Rome (Italy), from 1992 to present. After a general introduction on the meaning and purpose of clinical ethics consultation (CEC), the article examines the CECs released by CEC Service. We conducted a retrospective survey of all CECs requested and performed since the beginning of the Service up to now. The trend of the Service was analyzed and the number of consultations carried out in the first 20 years was compared with the number of CECs performed since the inclusion of the Service on “Gemelli Intranet” from 1st January 2016. We have identified and analized data relating to number of CEC requests and released, clinical areas that required CECs, kinds of consultation (standard CEC or shared document), ethical questions – and not only ethical ones – that emerged.