The Ethical Life of Health Care Organizations

This article addresses the connections between policymaking and human man values in health care organizations and calls for a major exploration of the values determining their actions.

Abstract

While organizations have had a long history in the life of health\ncare, during the twentieth century they have achieved an unprecedented\ndominance. Individual decisionmakers increasingly are being supplanted by the\nrules, standards, traditions, and collective decision process of\norganizations, which instruct and construct institutional actions in shaping\nhealth care choices. As their authority has grown, these organizations have\nnot given adequate attention to the essential associations that exist among\ntheir constituents, to the values generated and used in their interactions, or\nto the role of the organization itself in fostering humaneness in the\nrelationships and environment of the workplace. This article addresses these\nissues, focussing especially on academically affiliated institutions. It\ndemonstrates the connections between policymaking and human values in health\ncare organizations. It calls for a major exploration of the values determining\ntheir actions, comparable to the fundamental reappraisal by modern clinicians\nof the ethics governing their individual practices, and commensurate with the\nauthority and responsibility of organizations in health care today.