Full Description
Focusing on a matter of continuing contemporary significance, this book is the first work to offer an in-depth exploration of exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship. It provides a theoretical analysis of the concept of exploitation, setting out exploitation's essential elements within the authors' account of wrongful exploitation. It then presents a contextual analysis of exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship, considering the dynamics of this fiduciary relationship, the significance of vulnerability, and the reasons why exploitation in this relationship is particularly wrongful. Two case studies - sexual exploitation and assisted dying - are employed to assess what the appropriate legal, ethical and regulatory responses to exploitation should be, to identify common themes regarding the doctor's behaviour (such as the use of undue influence as a conduit through which to take advantage of and misuse patients), and to illustrate the effects of exploitation on patients. A recurring question addressed is how exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship is and should be dealt with by ethics, regulators and the law, and whether exploitation in this relationship is a special case.
The book provides a critical, interdisciplinary evaluation of exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship that will be of interest to health care lawyers, bioethicists, legal academics and practitioners, health care professionals and policymakers.
Contents
Introduction
What is exploitation? Philosophical foundations
Wrongful exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship
Patient vulnerability and exploitation
Sexual exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship
Part 1: Sexual boundary breaches and sexual exploitation
Part 2: The appropriate legal response to sexual exploitation
Assisted dying and exploitation
Reflecting on exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship
