Abstract
The relationship between the good of individual patients and the special good is examined when they are in conflict. The proposition is advanced that the ethical resolution of such conflicts requires an ethic of social medicine comparable to the existing ethic of clinical medicine. Comparing and contrasting the obligations clinicians incur under both aspects of the ethics of medicine is propadeutic to any ordering of priorities between them. The suggested partition of obligations between patient good and the common good is applicable beyond medicine to the other health professions.
Chapter PDF
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pellegrino, E.D., Thomasma, D.C. (2004). The Good of Patients and the Good of Society: Striking a Moral Balance. In: Boylan, M. (eds) Public Health Policy and Ethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2207-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2207-7_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1762-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2207-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)