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An Archeology of Corruption in Medicine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2018

MILES LITTLE ,
WENDY LIPWORTH  and
IAN KERRIDGE
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Abstract:

Corruption is a word used loosely to describe many kinds of action that people find distasteful. We prefer to reserve it for the intentional misuse of the good offices of an established social entity for private benefit, posing as fair trading. The currency of corruption is not always material or financial. Moral corruption is all too familiar within churches and other ostensibly beneficent institutions, and it happens within medicine and the pharmaceutical industries. Corrupt behavior reduces trust, costs money, causes injustice, and arouses anger. Yet it persists, despite all efforts since the beginnings of societies. People who act corruptly may lack conscience and empathy in the same way as those with some personality disorders. Finding ways to prevent corruption from contaminating beneficent organizations is therefore likely to be frustratingly difficult. Transparency and accountability may go some way, but the determined corruptor is unlikely to feel constrained by moral and reporting requirements of this kind. Punishment and redress are complicated issues, unlikely to satisfy victims and society at large. Both perhaps should deal in the same currency—material or social—in which the corrupt dealing took place.

Keywords

corruptionpharmaceutical companiesmedicinepreventionpunishmentredress
Type
Departments and Columns
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , July 2018 , pp. 525 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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