Abstract
This paper seeks to define and delimit the scope of the social responsibilities of health professionals in reference to the concept of a social contract. While drawing on both historical data and current empirical information, this paper will primarily proceed analytically and examine the theoretical feasibility of deriving social responsibilities from the phenomenon of professionalism via the concept of a social contract.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ABIM Foundation, ACP-ASIM Foundation and European Federation of Internal Medicine. 2002. Medical professionalism in the new millennium. A physician charter. Annals of Internal Medicine 136(3): 243–246.
American Dental Association. 2011. ADA principles of ethics and code of professional conduct. With official advisory opinions revised to January 2011. On-line at: http://www.ada.org/194.aspx. Last accessed on 21 March 2011.
American Medical Association. 2004. In 1847 Code of ethics. Reprinted in: Encyclopedia of Bioethics, ed. Stephen Post, Vol. 5. 3rd edn, 2657-2662. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
American Pharmacists Association. 1994. Code of ethics for pharmacists, adopted by the membership of the American Pharmacists Association on 27 Oct 1994. On-line at http://www.pharmacist.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search1&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2903. Accessed on 5 Oct 2011.
Aristotle. 1981. Nicomachean ethics (Translated by M. Ostwald). Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing.
Arnett, J. 2002. The medical professionalism project and its physician charter: New ethics for a political agenda. Medical Sentinel 7(2): 56-57. On-line at http://www.jpands.org/hacienda/arnett3.html. Last accessed on 21 March 2011.
Bertolami, C.N. 2003. Why our ethics curricula don’t work. Journal of Dental Education 68(4): 414–425.
Creus, S., R.L. Cruess, and Y. Steinert. 2010. Teaching professionalism across cultural and national borders: Lessons learned from an AMEE workshop. Medical Teacher 32: 371–374.
Daniels, N. 1985. Just health care. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Freidson, E. 1970, Profession of medicine. A study of the sociology of applied knowledge. New York: Dodd and Mead.
Gauthier, D. 1986. Morals by agreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Haiken, E. 1997. Venus envy. A history of cosmetic surgery. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Jensen, U.J. 1987. Practice and progress: A theory for the modern health-care system. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Kultgen, J. 1988. Ethics and professionalism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Kymlicka, W. 1993. The social contract tradition. In A companion to ethics, ed. Singer, Peter, Chpt 15, 186–196. Cambridge: Blackwell.
McIntyre, A. 1981. After virtue: A study in moral theory. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press.
Miller, F.G., and H. Brody. 2001. The internal morality of medicine: An evolutionary perspective. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 26(6): 581–599.
Pellegrino, E.D. 2001. The internal morality of clinical medicine: A paradigm for the ethics of the helping and healing professions. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 26(6): 559–579.
Rawls, J. 1999. Theory of justice, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Sox, H.C. 2002. Medical professionalism in the new millennium. A physician charter. Annals of Internal Medicine 136(3): 243.
Sullivan, W.M. 2005. Work and integrity: The crisis and promise of professionalism in America. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
ten Have, H.A.M.J., and A. Lelie. 1998. Medical ethics research between theory and practice. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19: 263–276.
Veatch, R.M. 1985. The relationship of profession(al) to society. Journal of Dental Education 49(4): 207–213.
Welie, J.V.M. 2004a. Is dentistry a profession? Part I: Professionalism defined. Journal of the Canadian Dental Association 70(8): 529–532. Also on-line at http://www.cda-adc.ca/jcda/vol-70/issue-8/529.html. Last accessed on 21 March 2011.
Welie, J.V.M. 2004b. Is dentistry a profession? Part II: Hallmarks of professionalism. Journal of the Canadian Dental Association 70(9): 599–602. Also on-line at http://www.cda-adc.ca/jcda/vol-70/issue-9/599.html. Last accessed on 21 March 2011.
Welie, J.V.M. 2004c. Is dentistry a profession? Part III: Future challenges. Journal of the Canadian Dental Association 70(10): 675-678. Also on-line at http://www.cda-adc.ca/jcda/vol-70/issue-10/675.html. Last accessed on 21 March 2011.
Welie, J.V.M. 2006. The preferential option for the poor. A social justice perspective on oral health care. In Justice in oral health care. Ethical and educational perspectives, ed. J.V.M. Welie, 127–144. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.
Wynia, M.K. 2008. The short history and tenuous future of medical professionalism. The erosion of medicine’s social contract. Perspective in Biology and Medicine 51(4): 565–578.
Acknowledgments
The development of this manuscript was made possible in part by engagement in the symposium on “Social Responsibility in the Health Professions: A Critical Exploration”, organized by Dr. Shafik Dharamsi and Professor Tara Fenwick of the University of British Columbia in February of 2009, and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Welie, J.V.M. Social contract theory as a foundation of the social responsibilities of health professionals. Med Health Care and Philos 15, 347–355 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-011-9355-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-011-9355-7