Conclusion

I have suggested that collective or widely shared values exist in health care. They derive from ancient traditions and are re-enforced by teamwork in professional situations and by the collectivization of treatment decisions by algorithms.

But the situation in health care is complicated by the fact that hospitals also act as corporations or collectives with a different set of values — those of the market or of economics — which may be in tension with medical values. In addition, patients are increasingly taking on the role of consumers. This again will tend to clash with traditional medical values and will divide moral responsibility between doctor and patientconsumer. On the other hand, patient consumerism can be depicted as creating a new partnership between patient and doctor. But in the end, moral responsibility remains with individuals, although the collective aims and values of medicine, business corporations, and consumerism may all have causal responsibility for their impact on these moral decisions.

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Conclusion

More on the topic Conclusion: