Patient-Physician Relationship: In Defence of W. D. Ross’s Prima Facie Duties

Abstract

The patient-physician relationship is one of the most prevalent and topical issues in bioethics. Using various ethical theories and concepts, bioethicists and philosophers in general have offered similar and contrasting arguments on how a physician ought to treat and relate with his patient. The aim of this paper is to centre on William David Ross’s notion of “Prima Facie Duties” and its implications for human actions, especially, in the discourse on patient-physician relationship. This paper attempts to resolve the problem of the patient-physician relationship in relation to truth-telling in medical professions using Ross’s prima facie duties. Hence, this paper looks beyond the deficiencies of ideal utilitarianism and the stringency of Kant absolutism.

Keywords

• Prima facie duties, truth-telling, patient, physician, ideal utilitarianism, absolutism