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Toward a Social Bioethics Through Interpretivism: A Framework for Healthcare Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2023

Ryan J. Dougherty Open the ORCID record for Ryan J. Dougherty [Opens in a new window]  and
Joseph J. Fins Open the ORCID record for Joseph J. Fins [Opens in a new window]
Ryan J. Dougherty*
Affiliation:
Baylor College of Medicine, Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Houston, TX, USA
Joseph J. Fins
Affiliation:
Weill Cornell Medicine, Division of Medical Ethics, New York, NY, USA
*
Corresponding author: Ryan J. Dougherty; Email: ryan.dougherty@bcm.edu
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Abstract

Recent global events demonstrate that analytical frameworks to aid professionals in healthcare ethics must consider the pervasive role of social structures in the emergence of bioethical issues. To address this, the authors propose a new sociologically informed approach to healthcare ethics that they term “social bioethics.” Their approach is animated by the interpretive social sciences to highlight how social structures operate vis-à-vis the everyday practices and moral reasoning of individuals, a phenomenon known as social discourse. As an exemplar, the authors use social bioethics to reframe common ethical issues in psychiatric services and discuss potential implications. Lastly, the authors discuss how social bioethics illuminates the ways healthcare ethics consultants in both policy and clinical decision-making participate in and shape broader social, political, and economic systems, which then cyclically informs the design and delivery of healthcare.

Keywords

social bioethicshealth equityclinical ethics consultationsociologyinterpretivism
Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , January 2024 , pp. 6 - 16
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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