Medicine is a complex social institution which includes biomedical research, clinical practice, and the administration and organization of health care delivery. As such, it is amenable to analysis from a number of disciplines and directions. The present volume is composed of revised papers on the theme of "Responsibility in Health Care" presented at the Eleventh Trans Disciplinary Symposium on Philosophy and Medicine, which was held in Springfield, illinois on March 16-18, 1981. The collective focus of these essays is the clinical practice of medicine and the themes and issues related to questions of responsibility in that setting. Responsibility has three related dimensions which make it a suitable theme for an inquiry into clinical medicine: (a) an external dimension in legal and political analysis in which the State imposes penalties on individuals and groups and in which officials and governments are held accountable for policies; (b) an internal dimension in moral and ethical analysis in which individuals take into account the consequences of their actions and the criteria which bear upon their choices; and (c) a comprehensive dimension in social and cultural analysis in which values are ordered in the structure of a civilization ([8], p. 5). The title "Responsibility in Health Care" thus signifies a broad inquiry not only into the ethics of individual character and actions, but the moral foundations of the cultural, legal, political, and social context of health care generally.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Section I / Health Care Teams and the Physician-Patient Relationship. - An Historical View of Health Care Teams. - Once On Top, Now On Tap: American Physicians View Their Relationships With Patients, 1920 1970. - Section II / Authority and Responsibility in the Practice of Medicine. - The Concept of Responsibility in Medicine. - Comments on The Concept of Responsibility in Medicine . - Authority and the Profession of Medicine. - Power, Authority, and Rights in the Practice of Medicine. - Medical Authority and Professional Medical Authority: The Nature of Authority in Medicine for Decisions by Lay Persons and Professionals. - Section III / Ethics of Consultation and Interprofessional Relationships. - Medical Consultations in the Context of the Physician-Patient Relationship. - Integrity in Interprofessional Relationships. - Consulting With Integrity: Some Reflections on Team Health Care and Professional Responsibility. - Logical Confusions and Moral Dilemmas in Health Care Teams and Team Talk. - Responsibility and Health Care Teams: A Health Professional s Perspective. - Section IV / Legal and Political Responsibility in Health Care Matters. - Legal Responsibility in Health Care: Whose Fault is It Anyway? . - Reaching Closure on Health-Related Controversies. - Responsibility and Public Policy in Health Care: Commentary on Essays by Williams and Rich. - Notes on Contributors.
