Does Profit Seeking Hurt the Practice of Medicine
Does Profit Seeking Hurt the Practice of Medicine? ... Relman, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. ... In the twentieth century, medicine began to be professionalized (Newton and Ford, 2002). ... In exchange for serving the needs of the sick, this contract grants physicians a licensed monopoly to practice their profession and freedom to set their educational standards, professional standards, and working conditions. ... Relman claims some supporters of the fee-for-service concept reject the distinctions made between business and medical practice. ... He continues by stating that he is not challenging the moral traditions of medicine, he is merely trying to temper the esteem we give to physicians. ... He further states, this it was not charity or altruism, but good will that would maximize profit over time. ... I disagree with Wicks position that business and medicine make a great marriage. ... Insurance companies dictate to the doctors, which prescription they can give to patients rather than provide the correct medicine to fix the problem. ... The issue stated Relman was simply a professor of medicine. In reality, Relman is a doctor as well as a professor of medicine at Harvard University of Medicine. He also is the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. ... For the rest of physicians that apply the business model to their practice, patients will suffer in the long term.