Physician and Patient: Social-psychological Dimensions of Ethical Interaction

Abstract

The article demonstrates that the physician-patient relationship is grounded in ethical principles that date back to Hippocrates. Attention is drawn to the fact that this ancient Greek healer, physician, and philosopher separated medicine from mysticism, laid the foundations of a scientific approach, systematised medical knowledge, and formulated the ethical principles of the physician embodied in the Hippocratic Oath. The significance of the Hippocratic Oath for modern culture lies in its presentation of medicine as a profession with clearly defined moral obligations.

A parallel is drawn between the moral norms that guide individuals in their everyday activities, which are predominantly restrictive in nature, and the moral norms that guide physicians in their attitudes toward their patients. It is emphasised that the relationship between the physician and the patient differs from both market relations and purely personal relationships between individuals. At the same time, these relations incorporate features of both types. Therefore, physician–patient relations can be characterised as “quasi-personal”.

It is established that professional relations, like market relations, involve interactions between strangers and are based on formal norms. At the same time, professional relations, like personal relations, share the feature that their foundation consists not merely of negative restrictions but also of positive obligations aimed at benefiting the client. According to the ethical code of medical professionals, the interests of the patient take precedence over the interests of the physician. It is emphasised that concern for human health constitutes the highest good. This good cannot be ensured by simple market relations. Health is not a commodity that can be distributed among consumers solely on the basis of their purchasing power. To deprive a person of medical care due to an inability to pay for it would be unjust.

All of this distinguishes the relationship between physician and patient from the relationship between seller and buyer. The physician assumes the obligation to provide assistance to the patient even at the expense of personal interests, while the patient, in turn, is obliged to trust the physician. Unlike contractual relations between buyer and seller, the relationship between physician and patient goes far beyond ordinary moral obligations.