The ethics of managed care

Abstract

Is managed care ethical? Does participating in managed care put physicians in an ethical bind?

I formed my concept of medical ethics in clinical care as I made rounds with my family doctor. He saw his patients in his home office and, carrying his little black bag, in the hospitals and nursing home in our small city. His sense of ethics was of the old school: Do what is best for your patients and preserve life. From my perspective as a student, it seemed that he held the sole power to decide when enough treatment efforts had been made.