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Doctors' moral beliefs and public policy

Wardman, David Tobias

Authors

David Tobias Wardman



Contributors

Miriam (Miriam J.) Johnson
Supervisor

Abstract

In this thesis, I address three related questions:

• First, suppose we legalise some controversial medical practice tomorrow. Should we respect the moral objections of those doctors who object to the practice? I argue that we should indeed respect those objections, and I provide two complementary reasons for doing so.

• Second, when the objections of doctors conflict with the interests of patients, how do we balance these two demands, and is there scope for compromise? I propose some criteria for resolving this conflict. I also suggest that the conventional compromise — compulsory referral — is morally problematic, and propose that the solution to this problem is to regard referral as ‘just another’ controversial medical practice.

• Third, in circumstances where prioritising patients’ interests means that we will eventually decide to overrule doctors’ moral objections, how might we expect doctors to respond to this, and is there anything we can do to reduce the harm to them? In my final chapter, I sketch some possible answers to this question.

Citation

Wardman, D. T. (2017). Doctors' moral beliefs and public policy. (Thesis). Hull York Medical School, the University of Hull and the University of York. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4220499

Thesis Type Thesis
Deposit Date Aug 7, 2018
Publicly Available Date Feb 23, 2023
Keywords Medicine
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4220499
Additional Information Hull York Medical School, University of Hull and University of York
Award Date Dec 1, 2017

Files

Thesis (1.9 Mb)
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Copyright Statement
© 2017 Wardman, David Tobias. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.




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