Abstract
Virtue theory in philosophical bioethics has influenced clinical ethics with depictions of the virtuous doctor or nurse. Comparatively little has been done with the concept of the virtuous patient, however. Bioethicists should correct the asymmetry in virtue theory between physician virtues and patient virtues in a way that provides a practical theory for the new patient-centered medicine—something clinicians and administrators can take seriously.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Redman, Barbara K. 2004. Patient self-management of chronic disease: The health care provider’s challenge. Boston: Jones and Bartlett.
Griffiths, Chris, Gill Foster, Jean Ramsey, Sandra Eldridge, and Stephanie Taylor. 2007. How effective are expert patient (lay led) education programmes for chronic disease? BMJ 334: 1254–1256.
Hardy, Pip. 2004. The Expert Patient Programme: A critical review. Pilgrim Projects. www.pilgrimprojects.co.uk/papers/epp_msc.pdf. Accessed March 8, 2019.
Shaw, Joanne, and Mary Baker. 2004. Expert patient—dream or nightmare? BMJ 328: 723–724.
Marcum, James A. 2012. The virtuous physician: The role of virtue in medicine. Dordrecht: Springer.
Sellman, Derek. 2011. What makes a good nurse: Why the virtues are important for nurses. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Draper, Heather, and Tom Sorell. 2002. Patients’ responsibilities in medical ethics. Bioethics 16: 335–352.
Churchill, Larry R., Joseph B. Fanning, and David Schenck. 2013. What patients teach: The everyday ethics of healthcare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dekkers, Wim, Inez Uerz, and Jean-Pierre Wils. 2005. Living well with end stage renal disease: Patients’ narratives interpreted from a virtue perspective. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 8: 485–506.
Swift, Teresa L., Richard E. Ashcroft, Win Tadd, Alastair V. Campbell, and Paul A. Dieppe. 2002. Living well through chronic illness: The relevance of virtue theory to patients with chronic osteoarthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatism 47: 474–478.
Lebacqz, Karen. 1985. The virtuous patient. In Virtue and medicine: Explorations in the character of medicine, ed. Earl E. Shelp, 275–288. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Pellegrino, Edmund D., and David C. Thomasma. 1988. For the patient’s good: The restoration of beneficence in health care. New York: Oxford University Press.
Campbell, Alastair V., and Teresa Swift. 2002. What does it mean to be a virtuous patient? Virtue from the patient’s perspective. Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy 5: 29–35.
Lorig, Kate. 2014. Chronic disease self-management program: Insights from the eye of the storm. Frontiers in Public Health 2: 253. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00253.
Hill, Thomas E., Jr., and Adam Cureton. 2018. Kant on virtue: Seeking the ideal in human conditions. In The Oxford handbook of virtue, ed. Nancy E. Snow, 263–280. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gauthier, Candace Cummins. 2005. The virtue of moral responsibility and the obligations of patients. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 30: 153–166.
American Medical Association. 2016. AMA Code of Medical Ethics. https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/ama-assn.org/files/corp/media-browser/principles-of-medical-ethics.pdf. Accessed March 8, 2019.
English, Dan C. 2005. Moral obligations of patients: A clinical view. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 30: 139–152.
Schmidt, H.G., Tamara van Gog, Stephanie C.E. Schuit, Kees Van den Berge, Paul L.A. Van Daele, Herman Bueving, Tim Van der Zee, Walter W. Van den Broek, Jan L.C.M. Van Saase, and Sílvia Mamede. 2017. Do patients’ disruptive behaviours influence the accuracy of a doctor’s diagnosis? A randomised experiment. BMJ Quality and Safety 26: 19–23.
Gorovitz, Samuel. 1984. Why you don’t owe it to yourself to seek health. Journal of Medical Ethics 10: 143–146.
Sider, Roger C., and Colleen D. Clements. 1984. Patients’ ethical obligation for their health. Journal of Medical Ethics 10: 138–142.
Kamtekar, Rachana. 2004. Situationism and virtue ethics on the content of our character. Ethics 114: 458–491.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the Blessing Hospital Ethics Committee and Jeri Conboy, clinical ethicist, for answering my questions about the duties and virtues of patients and generally making me a more practical ethicist. This paper started as a question from nursing students at Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing, and I am indebted to BRCN and Quincy University for providing me such great students on which to practice.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miles, J.K. Taking patient virtue seriously. Theor Med Bioeth 40, 141–149 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-019-09484-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-019-09484-x