19th ICCEC in Lausanne
The 19th annual International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation (ICCEC) was held in Lausanne, Switzerland on June 5–7, 2025. The theme of the conference was “Plurality, Power, and Patient Care: The Socio-Political Dimensions of Clinical Ethics.”
Clinical ethics consultation, or healthcare ethics consultation (HEC), responds to moral uncertainty, plurality, and value conflicts in healthcare. In doing so, it transcends the borders of healthcare and touches on contentious issues of societal and political importance, such as conflicts, migration, gender identity, artificial intelligence, or climate change. Good clinical ethics must consider these broader socio-political issues, and HEC professionals may, in turn, contribute an interesting view to these socio-political debates.
The conference was structured around five topics addressed across all HEC activities (consultation, education, organizational & policy work, research etc.):
- HEC and conflict resolution
- HEC and social justice
- HEC and sustainability
- HEC and digital disruption
- HEC and its socio-political dimension in general