Healthcare Professionals’ Experiences of Bioethical Conflict in Clinical Settings
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Abstract
Healthcare professionals frequently encounter bioethical conflicts arising from tensions between patient-centered care, institutional constraints, and professional responsibility. Although ethical frameworks and institutional guidelines are available, limited attention has been given to how healthcare professionals subjectively experience and interpret these conflicts in everyday clinical practice. This study used an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of healthcare professionals facing bioethical conflict. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings reveal that bioethical conflict is experienced as a sustained moral struggle marked by moral distress, constrained ethical agency, and adaptive responses such as silence, compromise, and resistance. Participants also engaged in ongoing meaning-making to preserve ethical integrity within structurally limited healthcare systems. These findings highlight the need for ethically responsive institutional practices and contribute to human-centered discussions in Health Law and Bioethics.
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