The Social Construction of Incompetency: Moving Beyond Embedded Paternalism Toward the Practice of Respect.
This article illustrates the less-acknowledged social construction of the concept of 'incompetency' and draws attention to the moral concerns it raises in health care encounters in the south Indian city of Chennai. Based on data drawn from qualitative research, this study suggests that surgeons subj...
| Published in: | Health Care Analysis Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 249 - 266 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Sep2020
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=144801108&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 144801108 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10653058 OFZ jtl: Health Care Analysis issn: 10653058 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2020 vid: 28 iid: 3 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 144801108 10.1007/s10728-020-00395-w ppf: 249 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 552KB tig: atl: The Social Construction of Incompetency: Moving Beyond Embedded Paternalism Toward the Practice of Respect. aug: au: Subramani, Supriya affil: Swiss Excellence Federal Scholar (ESKAS), Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Department of Humanities and Social Science, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India su: India Cognition Medical practice Paternalism Respect Social constructionism Patients' attitudes Family attitudes Capacity (Law) sug: subj: Cognition Medical practice Paternalism Respect Social constructionism Patients' attitudes Family attitudes India Capacity (Law) keyword: Incompetency Qualitative inquiry Social construction Incompetency Qualitative inquiry Social construction ab: This article illustrates the less-acknowledged social construction of the concept of 'incompetency' and draws attention to the moral concerns it raises in health care encounters in the south Indian city of Chennai. Based on data drawn from qualitative research, this study suggests that surgeons subjectively construct the idea of incompetency through their understanding of the perceived circumstantial characteristics of the patients and family members they serve. The findings indicate that surgeons often underestimate patients and family members' capacity based on constructed assessments, which leads to paternalistic practice. In this article, I illustrate how these assessments influence the surgeons' practices and provide the moral and practical justifications for their actions. The constructed knowledge becomes a source for drawing normative justification for surgeons' actions and, in conjunction with socially enforced power relationships, results in patients and family members to be on the receiving end of disrespectful attitudes. Based on the data analysis and by drawing on philosophical analysis, I emphasize the need to focus on 'respect for persons,' to rethink the framework of 'capacity,' and to practice respect in hospital settings. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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