Bioethics through the telescope: institutional ethics in the NHS

Newdick, C. (2015) Bioethics through the telescope: institutional ethics in the NHS. In: Ferguson, P. R. and Laurie, G. T. (eds.) Inspiring a medico-legal revolution : essays in honour of Sheila McLean. Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 125-136. ISBN 9781472434289

Abstract/Summary

The article argues for a broader conception of bioethics. The principles that dominate current thinking are generally individualistic and do not represent the real world inhabited by patients, doctors, hospitals and the NHS as a whole. Rather than focus almost exclusively on the micro-end of the analytical spectrum, bioethics, and medical lawyers in particular, should take the institutional dimensions of health and health care more seriously, ie use a telescope to understand the dynamics that drive the subject, not just a microscope.