What-If Anything-Sets Limits to the Clinical Ethics Consultant's "Expertise"?

The inability to reach agreement on what clinical ethics consultants' expertise consists of has generated a theoretical crisis for this field of practice. After briefly examining some recent articles on this subject, this essay focuses on the recent work of a Swedish political scientist, Maria Hedlund, who has addressed herself specifically to the political issues that claims of ethics expertise pose to democratic deliberations, and to how epistocratic claims of ethics expertise can coexist with democratic beliefs about moral expertise. Following Hedlund's lead, I conclude that at least two additional problems remain: (1) identifying ethics experts; and (2) reconciling the practice of clinical ethics consultation with philosophical issues about moral testimony.