Toward a New Medical Ethic

Abstract

By means of a series of autobiographical vignettes, plus personal reflection upon the medical and philosophico-political traditions, this paper criticizes how medical ethics and other applied ethics have been taught in American universities. Arguing against both paternalism and autonomism, the author provides a sketch of his philosophy of medicine and how it fits with several scientific and juridical models, within the background of a process of dehumanization of the health care relationship.