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Paying for Medical Care: A Jewish View
- Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 7, Number 1, March 1997
- pp. 15-30
- 10.1353/ken.1997.0004
- Article
- Additional Information
Money motivates people, lubricates the movement of resources, mobilizes talent, and breaks down some barriers. But money also has a darker side; it can distract, corrupt, distort, and cruelly exclude. Money is a useful but unruly servant; sometimes, a hard master. The professional, at least in part, belongs to the world of money. We sometimes distinguish the amateur from the professional in that the amateur does it for love; the professional, for money. The professional has one foot in the marketplace, but also, purportedly, professes something else--beyond the bottom line. The following discussion explores the morally complex ties and tensions between money and the medical professions.