Clinical ethics and the road less taken: mapping the future by tracking the past.

Although various aspects of clinical ethics consultation have been discussed in the literature, there has yet to be sustained systematic debate about the fundamental philosophical and methodological issues at stake in doing clinical ethics. Arguing that the field of clinical ethics is at ta critical crossroads, the author of this article outline the core issues that need to be addressed, debated, and resolved in order for the field to secure a meaningful future.