Thieves of Virtue

<b>An argument against the lifeboat ethic of contemporary bioethics that views medicine as a commodity rather than a tradition of care and caring.</b><p>Bioethics emerged in the 1960s from a conviction that physicians and researchers needed the guidance of philosophers in handling the issues raised by technological advances in medicine. It blossomed as a response to the perceived doctor-knows-best paternalism of the traditional medical ethic and today plays a critical role in health policies and treatment decisions. Bioethics claimed to offer a set of generally applicable universally accepted guidelines that would simplify complex situations. In <i>Thieves of Virtue</i> Tom Koch contends that bioethics has failed to deliver on its promises. Instead he argues bioethics has promoted a view of medicine as a commodity whose delivery is predicated not on care but on economic efficiency.</p><p>At the heart of bioethics Koch writes is a lifeboat ethic that assumes scarcity of medical resources is a natural condition rather than the result of prior economic political and social choices. The idea of natural scarcity requiring ethical triage signaled a shift in ethical emphasis from patient care and the physician's responsibility for it to neoliberal accountancies and the promotion of research as the preeminent good. </p><p>The solution to the failure of bioethics is not a new set of simplistic principles. Koch points the way to a transformed medical ethics that is humanist responsible and defensible.</p>