Discourse on medicine: meditative and calculative approaches to ethics from an international perspective.
Heidegger's two modes of thinking, calculative and meditative, were used as the thematic basis for this qualitative study of physicians from seven countries (Canada, China, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, & Thailand). Focus groups were conducted in each country with 69 physicians who cared for the elderly. Results suggest that physicians perceived ethical issues primarily through the lens of calculative thinking (76%) with emphasis on economic concerns. Meditative responses represented 24% of the statements and were mostly generated by Canadian physicians whose patients typically were not faced with economic barriers to treatment due to Canada's universal health care system.
Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies, University of Regina, Regina, Canada. david.malloy@uregina.ca.
David Cruise
DC
Malloy
Ronald
R
Martin
Thomas
T
Hadjistavropoulos
Peilai
P
Liu
Elizabeth Fahey
EF
McCarthy
Ilhyeok
I
Park
N
N
Shalani
Masaaki
M
Murakami
Suchat
S
Paholpak
D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013850:Thinking