OtherOpen Access
The paradox of promoting choice in a collectivist system
Authors
Author Affiliations
London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Oxford, Green University of Bangladesh
Published InJournal of Medical Ethics
Year2005
Citations36
Abstract
The notion of choice and its individualistic underpinnings is fundamentally inconsistent with the collectivist NHS ethos In both the policy1 and academic2 literatures, the issue of extending patient choice in the UK National Health Service (NHS) is currently a much discussed issue. From December 2005—for example, general practitioners (GPs) will be required to offer patients needing elective surgery the choice of five providers at the point of referral.1 Choice is often thought of as an intrinsically good thing; that is, that people value choice in and of itself.3 A probable underlying reason for this belief is that choice is tied in with the notion of individual autonomy, or freedom, a concept that looms large in ethical theories of the good.…
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