Is for-Profit Healthcare Really Ethical?

Is For-profit Healthcare Really Ethical?

Eric Lebida

November 30, 2010

Ethics in a Pluralistic Society 542

Many decisions we make and issues we face each day beckon us to call upon conscience to help determine a morally right or wrong course of action. As a society we are apparently astute when making these determinations. When it comes to the simple things like lying, stealing, and causing harm to others, most of us have a well-calibrated moral compass. Even though following this compass is sometimes another story, we seem to understand how to live our daily lives, facing little more than a hiccup or brief pondering when choosing what we believe to be the best course of action. This is because we have established a personal code of ethics for ourselves. This code began with our parents instilling values and has been building through experiences ever since. Unfortunately this personal code of ethics can only take us so far when facing any situation more complex than “is it wrong to steal?”.

When dealing with more complex issues where moral codes just won’t suffice, we are guided by examining our “ethical bottom line.” In most cases we develop ethical standards that define this bottom line without thinking about the process. We do this by turning to theoretical, community-based, and organizational ethics, often unaware of these terms, their definitions, and their implications. They are used subconsciously to decide what is ethical.

In addition to the moral standards that we use for everyday decisions, we use the theoretical, community-based, and organizational ethical standards when making more complex decision in our professional lives. Administrative and managerial decisions that have significant consequences on people and organizations tend to be complex and should be given much more conscious thought. To do that we may follow logical courses of action that philosophers before us have broken down to form theoretical ethics. Most people who...