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Personalised Medicine: A Critique on the Future of Health Care

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Abstract

In recent years we have seen the emergence of “personalised medicine.” This development can be seen as the logical product of reductionism in medical science in which disease is increasingly understood in molecular terms. Personalised medicine has flourished as a consequence of the application of neoliberal principles to health care, whereby a commercial and social need for personalised medicine has been created. More specifically, personalised medicine benefits from the ongoing commercialisation of the body and of genetic knowledge, the idea that health is defined by genetics, and the emphasis the state places on individual citizens as being “responsible for” their own health. In this paper I critique the emergence of personalised medicine by examining the ways in which it has already impacted upon health and health care delivery.

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Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law (AABHL) for this distinguished award, the Max Charlesworth Prize in Bioethics, and for assistance with attending the 2011 AABHL conference. Also to Prof. Ian Kerridge and Dr. Wendy Lipworth, thank you for your time and patience with editing and for providing constructive feedback on drafts of this manuscript.

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  1. The Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Level 1, Medical Foundation Building, K25, 92-4 Parramatta Rd, Camperdown, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Jacqueline Savard

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  1. Jacqueline Savard
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Correspondence to Jacqueline Savard.

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This paper was submitted for and awarded the Max Charlesworth Prize in Bioethics at the 2011 Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law conference.

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Savard, J. Personalised Medicine: A Critique on the Future of Health Care. Bioethical Inquiry 10, 197–203 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9429-8

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