How does the market affect and redefine healthcare? The marketisation of Western healthcare systems has now proceeded well into its fourth decade. But the nature and meaning of the phenomenon has become increasingly opaque amidst changing discourses, policies and institutional structures. Moreover, ethics has become focussed on dealing with individual, clinical decisions and neglectful of the political economy which shapes healthcare. This interdisciplinary volume approaches marketisation by exploring the debates underlying the contemporary situation and by introducing reconstructive and reparative discourses. The first part explores contrary interpretations of ‘marketisation’ on a systemic level, with a view to organisational-ethical formation and the role of healthcare ethics. The second part presents the marketisation of healthcare at the level of policy-making, discusses the ethical ramifications of specific marketisation measures and considers the possibility of reconciling market forces with a covenantal understanding of healthcare. The final part examines healthcare workers’ and ethicists’ personal moral standing in a marketised healthcare system, with a view to preserving and enriching virtue, empathy and compassion. Chapters 4 and 7 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Compassion in Healthcare gives an account of the nature and content of compassion and its role in healthcare. While compassion appears to be a straightforward aspect of life and practice, Hordern's analysis shows that it is plagued by both conceptual and practical ills, and stands in need of some quite specific kinds of therapy. Starting from a diagnosis of what precisely is wrong with 'compassion'—its debilitating political entanglements, the vagueness of its meaning, and the risk of burnout it threatens—three therapies are prescribed for these ills: an understanding of patients and healthcare workers as those who pass through the life-course, encountering each other as wayfarers and pilgrims; a grasp of the nature of compassion in healthcare; and an embedding of healthcare within the realities of civic life. Applying these therapeutic strategies uncovers how compassionate relationships acquire their content in healthcare practice. The form that compassion takes is shown to depend on how doctrines of time, tragedy, salvation, responsibility, fault, and theodicy make a difference to the quality of people's lives and relationships. Drawing on the author's real-world collaborations, the way in which compassion matters to practice and policy is worked out in the detail of healthcare professionalism, marketization, and technology. Covering everything from conception to old age, and from machine learning to religious diversity, Compassion in Healthcare draws on philosophy, theology, and everyday experience to expand our understanding of what compassion means for healthcare practice.

This introduction to the philosophy of medicine surveys the landscape of western philosophy as it pertains to healthcare in an accessible way. Written by a doctor for doctors and other health professionals, framing the 'toolbox' of philosophy within the community of medicine, it encourages examination of the implicit assumptions made in the construction of medical knowledge and practice. Taking the reader step by step through the concepts that underpin modern philosophy, they will be challenged to reflect upon the premises within clinical practice which might benefit from scrutiny and challenge, including the nature of scientific knowledge, the limits of our biomedical model, the cultural and relational context, and the failure to recognise or manage adequately the fact/value distinction in medicine and healthcare. The book is an ideal textbook for students of medicine and medical philosophy and will also be of interest to bioethicists, medical sociologists, clinical commissioners and to practicing clinicians in medicine and the allied health professions seeking to improve their understanding of philosophy and ethics and sharpen their critical thinking skills.

"A co-publication with the Social Science Research Council."

This book provides insights into dynamic and complex interrelationships between professionalism and medical practice. It does so by looking into the most relevant and recent theoretical and practical frameworks and by systematizing and integrating extensive and growing literature on medical professionalism. Through honest and prudent contributions from very diverse backgrounds and contexts, this book provides an understanding of medical professionalism derived from a broader historical and cultural context in order to contribute to everyday professional life and practice – the very place of its existence. The book presents the conflicting and sometimes irreconcilable demands and challenges physicians face in everyday practice. A better understanding of these fundamental issues is the only way for medicine to maintain and preserve its unique morality, the same one that enabled its existence in the first place. The book is relevant for everyone immersed and interested in the subject of medical professionalism as a resource, which may ease or guide them through the complexities of issues at hand. It will also contribute to the ongoing debate on medical professionalism, medical ethics, bioethics, and professionalism and ethics in general.

This book critically examines marketization: a phenomenon by which market processes are institutionalized and marketing increasingly pervades all areas of our everyday life. It presents a number of theories, frameworks and empirical studies highlighting how the phenomenon of marketization affects the 21st century consumer. The book also contests the traditional understanding of markets, offering a more comprehensive treatment of marketization and a fresh perspective on the dynamics of markets and the institutions that control everyday consumption practices. This book is an ideal resource for academics, reflective practitioners and policy-makers interested in formulating appropriate change strategies in the face of the globalization that affects emerging markets so profoundly. This well-crafted research book is a valuable addition to the sparse literature on theories of marketization. The authors refigure the existing theories more broadly and present compelling evidence and insights into market phenomenon such as marginality, alternative market forms and consumer identity.

This edited volume draws on ten original contributions that locate ethics at the centre-stage of public health practice. The essays explicate ethical issues, challenges, deliberations and resolutions covering a broad canvas of public health practice including policies, programmes, research, training and advocacy. The contributors are academics and practitioners in varying roles and long-standing engagement with public health in diverse settings within India. Their expertise in disciplines range from anthropology, sociology, health communications, gender studies, economics, epidemiology, social work and medicine. Their chapters deal with dimensions of ethical dilemmas that can rarely be defined and contained within ethical guidelines and protocols alone. Instead, they throw light on the associated factors, value systems and contexts in which such complexities occur and require response or redressal. This volume aims to articulate the growing awareness among practitioners that public health ethics is not merely an advanced grouping of possible problems and solutions. It hopes to facilitate robust platforms for dialogue and debate on the subject through the lenses of these contributions. The book is conceptualized to reach broader audiences such as public health practitioners and researchers in several roles within Government health systems, NGOs/Grass root organizations/CSR initiatives/advocacy groups; as well as researchers in academic settings and facilitators involved in teaching ethics and imparting training for students and young practitioners of public health.

Is social enterprise yet another example of the expansion of the market into all areas of life and society, in this case the marketization of poverty? Or does it offer genuine hope as part of a solution to some of the challenges facing contemporary society, and as an example of an economy of mutuality? Framing this question theologically, does it offer the potential of “faithful economic practice”? The Promise of Social Enterprise makes the case that how we answer this depends on the language we use to describe—and perform—social enterprise. Arguing for the need to move beyond the narrow and reductionistic logic of mainstream economics, the economic nature of the language of gift and mutuality is explored. Drawing on the theological framework of Pope Benedict XVI and the work of John Barclay on Paul’s understanding of the social implications of the Christ-gift, this book considers the contribution that a theology of gift, with its incongruity and mutuality, makes to the theory and practice of social enterprise.

This edited collection focuses on the global growth of privatisation and private sector medicine in both developed and lesser developed countries, and the impact of this on patients, health workers, managers and policy-makers. Drawing upon sociological theories, concepts and insights, as well as experts from several countries with extensive experience in researching the field either nationally or internationally, the collection offers a unique perspective on healthcare services and healthcare systems: a view from those trying to access healthcare services, working inside health systems, or responsible for managing and organising services. Collectively, the chapters contribute an international perspective on the navigation of healthcare systems, and addresses the growing salience of ‘choice’ between public and private medicine in a variety of different national systems and contexts.

What is ‘good care’ and does more choice lead to better care? This innovative and compelling work investigates good care and argues that the often touted ideal of ‘patient choice’ will not improve healthcare in the ways hoped for by its advocates.