Medical altruism in mainstream health economics: theoretical and political paradoxes - Université Paris Nanterre Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Review of Social Economy Année : 2014

Medical altruism in mainstream health economics: theoretical and political paradoxes

Philippe Batifoulier
Nicolas da Silva

Résumé

In the field of healthcare, ethical considerations are omnipresent. The problem is that it is not clear how to introduce professional ethics within the frontiers demarcated by economic rationality. In mainstream economics, medical altruism is defined as the inclusion of the patient’s welfare in the doctor’s utility function. This definition presents two serious problems that we develop in this paper. The first problem is that mainstream theory does not propose a model of authentic altruism because it reduces otherness to a source of utility like any other. The second problemis that ethical and altruistic (instrumental or otherwise) behaviour should not be conflated. By reducing ethics to altruism, mainstream theory prevents any genuine discussion of medical ethics. Then, the thesis of the paper is that the attempt tointroduce altruism into the standard framework creates theoretical paradoxes that create policy dilemmas
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Da Silva et Batifoulier (2014).pdf (129.48 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte
Loading...

Dates et versions

hal-01385938 , version 1 (05-10-2019)

Identifiants

Citer

Philippe Batifoulier, Nicolas da Silva. Medical altruism in mainstream health economics: theoretical and political paradoxes. Review of Social Economy, 2014, 72 (3), pp.261 - 279. ⟨10.1080/00346764.2014.927727⟩. ⟨hal-01385938⟩
117 Consultations
261 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More