Managed care at the bedside: how do we look in the moral mirror?

Kennedy Inst Ethics J. 1997 Dec;7(4):321-30. doi: 10.1353/ken.1997.0036.

Abstract

Managed care per se is a morally neutral concept; however, as practiced today, it raises serious ethical issues at the clinical, managerial, and social levels. This essay focuses on the ethical issues that arise at the bedside, looking first at the ethical conflicts faced by the physician who is charged with responsibility for care of the patient and then turning to the way in which managed care exacts costs that are measured not in dollars but in compromises in the caring dimensions of the patient-physician relationship.

MeSH terms

  • Altruism
  • Beneficence
  • Biomedical Technology
  • Conflict of Interest*
  • Continuity of Patient Care
  • Contracts
  • Disclosure
  • Economics*
  • Employment
  • Gatekeeping
  • Health Care Rationing*
  • Humans
  • Managed Care Programs*
  • Moral Obligations*
  • Patient Advocacy
  • Patient Care
  • Persons
  • Physician's Role
  • Physician-Patient Relations*
  • Physicians*
  • Professional Competence
  • Quality of Health Care
  • Resource Allocation*
  • Social Responsibility*
  • Sociology, Medical
  • United States
  • Vulnerable Populations
  • Withholding Treatment