• Medwave · Dec 2017

    Do doctors have a moral duty to work in the public health sector? Ethical considerations regarding the social obligations of medicine.

    • Bernardo Aguilera Dreyse and Gonzalo López Gaete.
    • Centro de Bioética, Facultad de Medicina Clínica Alemana, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile; Departamento de Bioética y Humanidades Médicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Address: Centro de Bioética, Universidad del Desarrollo, Avenida Las Condes 12461, Torre 3, piso 2, oficina 202, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile, CP: 7590943. Email: baguilera@udd.cl.
    • Medwave. 2017 Dec 22; 17 (9): e7105.

    AbstractThis article discusses whether physicians have social obligations and whether these obligations imply a moral duty to work in the public sector. The article focuses on the context of the Chilean health system, which has an unequal distribution of physicians to the detriment of the public sector, thus making the issue a particularly pressing one. After addressing arguments from different ethical theories and some empirical evidence, the article concludes that the physician has some social obligations in relation to a fair distribution of health resources, and that professional excellence should incorporate cultivating virtues related to social justice. In addition, it is argued that the moral duty to work in the public sector can be placed in the context of prima facie obligations which admit exceptions and allow the possibility of conflict with other professional obligations.

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