Abstract
Edmund Pellegrino claims that medical ethics must be derived from a perception of the patient's “damaged humanity,” rather than from the self-imposed duties of professionals. This essay explores the meaning and examines the challenges to this patient-centered ethic. Social scientific and bioethical interpretations of medicine constitute one kind of challenge. A more pervasive challenge is the ascendancy of managed care, and especially investor-owned, for-profit managed care. A list of questions addressed to patients, physicians and organizations is offered as one means of assessing this threat and moving toward morally trustworthy relationships.
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TheConsumer Reports three-part series that began with the July 1992 edition is one of the clearest and most cogent analyses of the problems in U.S. health care.
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Thisconsideration is an important one posed by many physicians. See, for example, the brief essay by Carolyn M. Clancy and Howard Brody. Managed care; Jekyll or Hyde? J Amer Med Assoc 1995; 273: 338–339. Yet the AMA “Guidelines” omit this consideration. See Ethical issues in managed care. J Amer Med Assoc 1995; 273: 330–335.
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Churchill, L.R. “DAMAGED HUMANITY”: THE CALL FOR A PATIENT-CENTERED MEDICAL ETHIC IN THE MANAGED CARE ERA. Theor Med Bioeth 18, 113–126 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005769723154
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005769723154