[Terminology in clinical bioethics].

Abstract

In this article some of the most relevant terms in clinical bioethics are defined. The terms were chosen based on three criteria: impact on the most important problems in clinical bioethics, difficulty in understanding, and need to clarify their meaning. For a better understanding, the terms were grouped into 5 areas: general concepts (conflict of values, deliberation, conflict of interest, conscientious objection); justice (justice, distributive justice, models of justice, triage); clinical matters (information, competency, capability, informed consent, mature minor, coercion, secrecy, privacy, confidentiality, professional secrecy); end of life (prior instructions, limitation of therapeutic efforts, professional obstinacy, futility, palliative care, palliative sedation, principle of double effect, euthanasia, assisted suicide, persistent vegetative state, minimally conscious state, locked-in syndrome, brain death), and beginning of life (assisted reproduction, genetic counseling, preimplantation genetic diagnosis).