The Circle Method: A Novel Approach to Clinical Ethics Consultation

Different methods are available in clinical ethics consultation. In our experience as ethics consultants, certain individual methods have proven insufficient, and so we use a combination of methods. Based on these considerations, we first critically analyze the pros and cons of two well-known methods in the working field of clinical ethics, namely Beauchamp and Childress's four-principle approach and Jonsen, Siegler, and Winslade's four-box method. We then present the circle method, which we have used and refined during several clinical ethics consultations in the hospital setting.