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The training of hospital staff is a central task of clinical ethics committees and offers them the opportunity to positively shape the ethical climate in the hospital. We call for a conceptual approach to the field of ethics training and discuss possible training goals and methods as well as necessary organizational ethical requirements and research desiderata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on socio-cultural aspects of diseases with reference to professor Peter Hucklenbroich's analysis of the theory of disease in his article published in this issue. Hucklenbroich's concept of disease in the medicinal field is discussed. A socio-cultural interpretation of the concept of disease is presented.

Visitation restrictions in hospitals during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic led to great psychological burden for patients, their relatives and employees. For hospitals, they represent a complex organizational challenge with respect to ethics. The present recommendations are intended to support decision-making at the meso- and microlevels.

The lives of lesbian, gay, bi-, pan-, asexual, and transgender (LGBTA+/LGBT) people are not considered to be standard in society, unlike those of heterosexual cisgender people. This can lead to prejudices against LGBT people and may negatively influence their access to high-quality health care. Medical and mental health care have been characterized by attitudes (psycho-)pathologizing LGBT lives and therefore supported the stigmatization of LGBT people in the service of heteronormativity. Mental health professionals (MHPs) largely have transferred principles guiding counseling and psychotherapy with heterosexual (straight) cisgender persons to treatment of LGBT individuals without considering the specific features of LGBT lives. This is true even if the treatment is not exclusively LGBT-related, but can address LGBT-unrelated issues. To counteract this, the present paper aims to provide an insight into ethically sound mental health care for LGBT people. By applying the principles of biomedical ethics, we have analyzed how LGBT individuals can be discriminated against in mental health care and what MHPs may need to offer LGBT-sensitive high-quality mental health care. We argue that MHPs need LGBT-related expertise as well as LGBT-related sensitivity. MHPs should acquire specialist knowledge for the diverse lives and the challenges of LGBT people. We encourage MHPs to develop an understanding of how their own implicit attitudes towards LGBT people can affect treatment. However, the demand for special training should not be mistaken as a demand for a specific type of mental health care. The principles of general psychotherapy are equally the basis of psychotherapy with LGBT people., (Copyright ©2020, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.)

Advances in medical technology as well as developments in society as a whole, such as the scarcity of resources in the healthcare system or the so-called "Pflegenotstand," increasingly require a professional approach to ethical issues in patient care. Therefore, more and more hospitals develop ethical structures. In the US, this development goes back to the 1960s. In Germany, it started about 30 years later. Essentially, clinical ethics intend to promote the possibilities of a qualified exchange on ethical subjects in everyday care. It covers more than only the support of solving ethical conflicts that may arise in the care of individual patients. In addition, the corresponding organizational structures are taken into account. The structural implementation of clinical ethics often takes place by clinical ethic committees. Key tasks include the clinical ethics consultation, training, and the development of ethical policies and their organizational penetration. In this way, clinical ethics can help make ethical negotiation an integral part of the corporate culture.This article presents the core tasks of clinical ethics and the resulting implementation options. In addition, it places a special emphasis on the importance of organizational relationships.