Public Dialogue and the Boundaries of Moral Community
Public Dialogue and the Boundaries of Moral Community
复制标题
公共对话与道德共同体的界限
作者：
S. Joffe
Nowadays one hears the call for conversation between medical professionals and patients and families from all quarters. This exhortation, exemplified in touchstone phrases such as “partnership” and “shared decision making,” has come to seem so self-evident as to be almost a truism. It is therefore remarkable that our literature contains so few examples of public conversations between patients and caregivers, conversations that might serve as models for our private efforts. The dialogue between “Jay Carter” and David Brendel in this issue of JCE represents a courageous foray into this little-explored terrain. In what follows, I will focus on four of the many compelling issues that Carter and Brendel raise. First, I address the alteration of case narratives in the interests of patients’ privacy. Next, I share some tentative thoughts about ownership of stories, and about the notion of the privileged story. Third, I consider the nature of responsibility and accountability among those of us who write, present, or comment on medical stories. I close by suggesting that, through their dialogue, Carter and Brendel lay down a profound challenge to rethink our assumptions about the moral community of medicine.
