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CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY;
DECISION MAKING;
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DECISION MAKING;
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ETHICS, MEDICAL;
FREEDOM;
HEALTH CARE REFORM;
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PHILOSOPHY, MEDICAL;
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Do justice, love mercy: The inappropriateness of the concept of justice applied to bedside conditions
Shelp EE, Ed. Dordrecht: Reidel D
When Professor Cassell argues that justice has no place at the bedside I think that he sees 'justice' as being entirely impersonal. I do not at all dispute Cassell's claim that an impersonal justice is incompatible, indeed that it is inimical to the healthcare professional patient relationship as we understand it. See Cassell E. Do justice, love mercy: The inappropriateness of the concept of justice applied to bedside conditions. In: Shelp EE, Ed. Justice and Health Care. Dordrecht: Reidel D, 1981:75-82. My argument rather is that the operative (as perhaps distinct from the purely formal or abstract) concept of justice must include all facts relevant to the case and, therefore, must perforce include features of personal obligation and compassion.
Using the capacity to suffer as at least one of the criteria for giving something moral standing has been proposed in several books and papers. Among others see Loewy EH. Suffering and the Beneficent Community: Beyond Libertarianism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1991.
The contrast between generosity and justice has often been noted. A supposed contrast between compassion and justice may be believed to follow but does not necessarily do so. Generosity is a supererogatory act. Compassion, on the other hand, in its inception is a natural drive and can (but need not) serve as a motivator for generosity.
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0003871933
Philadelphia: Trinity Press International
See Engelhardt HT. Bioethics and Secular Humanism: The Search for a Common Morality. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1991. The philosophy that underpins libertarianism has a long history. In its modern clothes perhaps its most significant proponent is Professor Nozick. (See Nozick H. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1974). In healthcare ethics a very similar type of world-view can be found underwriting the works of Professor Engelhardt. (See Engelhardt HT. The Foundations of Bioethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). It is, of course, a point of view that is basic to capitalism in its crassest forms.
See Engelhardt HT. Bioethics and Secular Humanism: The Search for a Common Morality. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1991. The philosophy that underpins libertarianism has a long history. In its modern clothes perhaps its most significant proponent is Professor Nozick. (See Nozick H. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1974). In healthcare ethics a very similar type of world-view can be found underwriting the works of Professor Engelhardt. (See Engelhardt HT. The Foundations of Bioethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). It is, of course, a point of view that is basic to capitalism in its crassest forms.
See Engelhardt HT. Bioethics and Secular Humanism: The Search for a Common Morality. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1991. The philosophy that underpins libertarianism has a long history. In its modern clothes perhaps its most significant proponent is Professor Nozick. (See Nozick H. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1974). In healthcare ethics a very similar type of world-view can be found underwriting the works of Professor Engelhardt. (See Engelhardt HT. The Foundations of Bioethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). It is, of course, a point of view that is basic to capitalism in its crassest forms.
Translated into healthcare ethics, such a viewpoint makes of medicine a pure business, run by contract between healthcare professionals and their customers. The market controls. See Engelhardt HT. Health care allocations: response to the unjust, the unfortunate and the undesirable. In: Shelp EE, Ed. Dordrecht, Reidel D; 1981; as well as Engelhardt HT: Morality for the medical-industrial complex: a code of ethics for the mass-marketing of healthcare. New England Journal Medicine 1988; 319:1086-9. Here is not the place to examine some of the dubious aspects of these claims. Even if one were to grant the libertarian premise-which I am far from doing-one is still left with the troubling question of what "standing in one's way" means. The argument that being poor (or ill, or ugly) is merely unfortunate but not unjust is, in my view, difficult to maintain in a complex society which has structured itself in ways which produce poverty in many and extreme wealth in some few.
Morality for the medical-industrial complex: A code of ethics for the mass-marketing of healthcare
Translated into healthcare ethics, such a viewpoint makes of medicine a pure business, run by contract between healthcare professionals and their customers. The market controls. See Engelhardt HT. Health care allocations: response to the unjust, the unfortunate and the undesirable. In: Shelp EE, Ed. Dordrecht, Reidel D; 1981; as well as Engelhardt HT: Morality for the medical-industrial complex: a code of ethics for the mass-marketing of healthcare. New England Journal Medicine 1988; 319:1086-9. Here is not the place to examine some of the dubious aspects of these claims. Even if one were to grant the libertarian premise-which I am far from doing-one is still left with the troubling question of what "standing in one's way" means. The argument that being poor (or ill, or ugly) is merely unfortunate but not unjust is, in my view, difficult to maintain in a complex society which has structured itself in ways which produce poverty in many and extreme wealth in some few.
