Abstract

Analysis in bioethics has relied primarily on the identification and application of general principles and on the examination of particular paradigmatic cases. Principalism and casuistry depend on an assumption of generalizability; that is, that learning and insights gained from an understanding of the principles or the case may be effectively applied to other similar situations. For the most part, the particular characteristics of the institutional setting have not played a central role in these approaches. It would appear, then, that what has been learned in the context of one health care setting is transferable, with some few adjustments, to another. The institutional context does make both a practical and a substantive difference, however, and shifting ethical analyses from one context to another has sometimes proven difficult. This has been so, for example, in the context of nursing home care.