Navigating a Collision Course: Clinical Ethics vs. Business Ethics

DePaul journal of health care law, 2005

DEPAUL JOURNAL OF HEALTH CARE LAW and they collected data that, at least partially, supported this assertion. 9 These critics starkly challenged physicians' ethics, claiming that medical ethics were largely a cynical ploy to profit from monopoly power in the market.' While some of these sociologists, most notably Friedson, subsequently asserted the value of medical professionalism, such as self-regulation and the norms created through codes of ethics, 11 their fundamental criticism remains powerful, widely held, and underlies landmark legal actions against physicians under antitrust statutes. 12 But, the criticism that medical professionals are not civicminded did not arise in a vacuum. As medicine perceived the possibility of government interventions in medical care in 1912, medical ethics increasingly stressed professional autonomy and deemphasized social obligations.1 3 This trend was strengthened by events during World War II, as well-known horrors became strongly associated with physicians acting as agents of the state.' 4 Add to this an underlying American predilection towards individual rights and it is not surprising that, by 1955, the AMA's Code proclaimed that it was ethically imperative that a "physician... be free to choose whom to serve and the environment in which to practice."' 15 Indeed, many medical ethicists urged physicians to completely ignore civic considerations and consider only the welfare of the individual patient before them. In 1984, Norman Levinsky wrote, "...physicians are required to do everything that they believe may benefit each patient, 9 See generally PAUL STARR, THE SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN MEDICINE (Basic Books 1982) (documenting this assertion regarding altruism was a broad theme of the book). 'old.

2nd International Conference Global Ethics - Key of Sustainability (GEKoS), 2021

The aim of the paper is to understand in depth the notion of medical ethics and how it can be applied by medical and auxiliary staff in daily work, whether we are considering a private health unit or a public unit with the same object of activity. The importance of the subject, in the authors' view, although it is always current, comes especially in the context of the need to improve the health of an increasing number of people affected by the SARS Cov2 pandemic, people who use health services.

American Business Law Journal, 2012

Medical Ethics eJournal, 2007

This article, prepared in the context of a conference at Hofstra in October 2006 ("Biomedical Research and the Law") considers contrasting responses to conflicts of interest occasioned by physicians' financial links to the pharmaceutical industry. Debate about the appropriate relationship between physicians and industry is grounded in the development known to historians of ideas as the shift in western culture from status to contract. The article summarizes the shift and then describes its consequences for and effects within the world of health care. The paper focuses on comparing an ethical order that continues to reflect traditional patterns in directing physicians' conduct with an ethical order firmly committed to the values of the marketplace. Physicians' contrasting attitudes toward links with industry, and more specifically, toward rules of disclosure as a potential antidote to bias, illustrate the parameters of debate. The article concludes that the dept...

Journal of General Internal Medicine, 1999

Asia Pacific journal of health management, 2022

Today, the whole world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In these circumstances, medical professionals are being viewed as the frontline warriors who are risking their lives for the sake of helping, caring, and curing these patients. However, in these difficult times, there are few medical professionals and health care providers who are taking advantage of this situation and taking advantage of distressed and distraught patients at will. A conflict between professional and personal ethical values makes them depressed and puzzled. It is tough for them to maintain a good image of their profession and business. The objectives of this study are to review the ethical conflict amid the ongoing Covid pandemic and post-Covid pandemic (vaccination period) in the context of medical professionals and health care providers. The paper is designed based on a literature review. Almost fifty-two research papers, articles, survey reports, and newspapers were studied in the context of ethics in business/profession. After reviewing moral distress is ongoing and post-pandemic period, the researchers have tried to present the medical professionals and health care providers' critical situation to give priority to their professional ethics or personal interest.

Health Affairs, 2007

The Medical Journal of Australia, 2002

RAPID AND RADICAL CHANGE in almost every facet of society has brought in its wake community anxiety, suspicion and hostility. Current examples in Australia include the impact of globalisation, the introduction of the goods and services tax, and the actions of the banks in phasing out local branches. Even the health industry faces increased levels of public scrutiny and criticism. A recent example has been the agedcare institutions, charged with providing suboptimal facilities and services. 1 Hospitals, too, both in the private and public sector, have received embarrassing media attention -the organ-harvesting scandal in the United Kingdom being but one example. 2 Surprisingly, while such public pressure has resulted in many large companies formulating corporate codes of ethics, few hospitals, with the exception of some with religious affiliations, have adopted such codes. This may be due in part to many hospital staff having their own professional codes of ethical behaviour. However, a hospital is more than the sum of its professional staff, and decision-making at a corporate level raises ethical issues. For example, ethical issues need to be taken into account in the allocation of scarce financial resources and the sometimes fierce interdepartmental battles for funding. The size of many hospital budgets brings them into the ambit of "big business" and, as such, boards must be sensitive to the bottom line of financial accountability. Currently, there is increasing pressure on all businesses, large and small, to establish their activities on a sustainable basis, incorporating "triple-bottom-line" accountability -decision-making must take into account not only financial outcomes but also human rights and the impact on the environment. Only when all these issues are addressed, it is argued, can legitimate and responsible decisions be made. The question might be asked, why bother with a code of ethics when hospitals are governed by highly prescriptive laws and regulations covering just about every aspect of their activities -from occupational health and safety to environmental protection to paternity leave -and where the threat of litigation hangs heavily over the system? The simple answer is that, to maintain and develop a reputation with

2019

International Conference on Clinical Ethics Consultation, Vienna

BMC medical education, 2014

No published curricula in the area of medical business ethics exist. This is surprising given that physicians wrestle daily with business decisions and that professional associations, the Institute of Medicine, Health and Human Services, Congress, and industry have issued related guidelines over the past 5 years. To fill this gap, the authors aimed (1) to identify the full range of medical business ethics topics that experts consider important to teach, and (2) to establish curricular priorities through expert consensus. In spring 2012, the authors conducted an online Delphi survey with two heterogeneous panels of experts recruited in the United States. One panel focused on business ethics in medical practice (n = 14), and 1 focused on business ethics in medical research (n = 12). Panel 1 generated an initial list of 14 major topics related to business ethics in medical practice, and subsequently rated 6 topics as very important or essential to teach. Panel 2 generated an initial li...