International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Why Good Quality Care Needs Philosophy More Than Compassion; Comment on “Why and How Is Compassion Necessary to Provide Good Quality Healthcare?”

Document Type : Commentary

Author
Carlo Leget
Ethics of Care, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands
10.15171/ijhpm.2015.122
Abstract
Although Marianna Fotaki’s Editorial is helpful and challenging by looking at both the professional and institutional requirements for reinstalling compassion in order to aim for good quality healthcare, the causes that hinder this development remain unexamined. In this commentary, 3 causes are discussed; the boundary between the moral and the political; Neoliberalism; and the underdevelopment of reflection on the nature of care. A plea is made for more philosophical reflection on the nature of care and its implications in healthcare education.
Keywords
Compassion
Care Ethics
Neoliberalism
Political
Subjects
  1. Fotaki M. Why and how is compassion necessary to provide good quality healthcare? Int J Health Policy Manag. 2015;4(4):199–201. doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2015.66
  2. Tronto  J.  Moral  Boundaries.  An  Ethic  of  Care.  New  York: Routledge;  1993.
  3. Grit K, Dolfsma W. The dynamics of the Dutch health care system. A discourse analysis. Rev Soc Econ. 2002;60(3):377-401.  doi:10.1080/0034676021000013377
  4. Hochchild A. The Managed Heart: The Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: The University of California Press; 1983.
  5. Brown W. Neo-liberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy. Theory and Event.2003;7:1. doi:10.1353/tae.2003.0020
  6. Brugère F. Care and its political effects. In: Olthuis G, Kohlen H, Heier J, eds. Moral  Boundaries  Redrawn:  The  Significance  of Joan Tronto’s Argument for Political Theory, Professional Ethics and Care as Practice. Leuven: Peeters; 2004:73-90.
  7. Housset E. L’intelligence de la pitié: phenomenologie de la communauté. Paris: Cerf; 2003.
  8. Randall F, Downie RS. The Philosophy of Palliative Care. Critique and Reconstruction. Oxford: University Press; 2006.

 

  • Received Date 02 June 2015
  • Revised Date 30 June 2015
  • Accepted Date 29 June 2015
  • First Published Date 01 October 2015
  • Published Date 01 October 2015