Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Leadership Studies
First Advisor
Dr. Jessica Flanagan
Abstract
The profit motive in medicine, which is the desire to maximize pecuniary profit as a primary motivation in patient care, is unethical. Regardless of whether the functional body outputting a medical profit motive is a physician, a group of physicians, or a large hospital, proper medical care should not be undermined by a desire for monetary gain. To say that medical care should not concern itself with money (i.e. costs, budgets) would be foolish; rather, I am asserting that treating medicine like any other business is disrespectful to the core values that predicate patient care. Human health is too important of a currency to be thrust into a system of financial modeling and cost/benefit analyses that aim to yield maximal gains; medical practitioners should be primarily motivated by maximizing patient health and wellness.
Recommended Citation
Sobieski, John, "The moral price of the profit motive in medicine" (2016). Honors Theses. 952.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/952