[Ethics versus ethos: current ethical problems in palliative oncology]

Difficult moral concerns and choices are a characteristic of palliative cancer medicine. Problems in patient information, palliative chemotherapy, treatment with unconventional remedies and clinical drug development are given as examples. The physician-scientist as member of a clinical cancer research institution particularly faces ethically troublesome situations. It is argued that next to the acquisition of bioethical competence by 'doing' staff, members working in scientific and medical frontiers should specifically be trained to identify, analyse and resolve ethical dilemmas. In conclusion, a biomedical ethics programme is presented which will be instituted at a new cancer center, comprising the establishment of a humanities research group, ethical liaison, consultation and information services as well as a system of inhouse bioethical quality control.