THE PATIENTS FORUM MEDICAL-ETHICS

Background: The patients' forum Medical Ethics is an innovative model project, which aims at intensifying the dialogue between health care p rofessionals and patients as well as their relatives. Methods and Resu lts: Practical experiences and data from a complementing evaluative st udy are reported. By means of a sophisticated instrument of moral psyc hology, the Moralisches-Urteil-Test (M-U-T), differences are revealed between the participating groups - doctors, health care professionals, patients, medical students etc. - referring to more cognitive or emot ional orientations in moral judgment, respectively. These differences contradict common assumptions. Conclusion: On the ground of the data p resented as well as by subjective estimations of participants it is sh own that the ethics discussion with patients is not only successful, b ut that it is also valuable for teaching by fostering new insights and experiences.