Since the Corona pandemic, the concept of illness has been reflected more centrally than before. But as clear as it seems to us intuitively, certain questions inevitably arise. Who decides what it means to be “sick”? What rights and obligations arise from this for sick people? And are you sick even if you feel sick without any organic causes being proven? The text “The concept of illness in medical anthropology as a subject of ethics,” published by GRIN in April 2024, seeks answers to exactly this. Analytically, this work deals with the prevailing definitions of the concept of illness and their ethical implications.
In addition to presenting the concept of illness in modern anthropology, the author outlines various ethical principles and their concrete implications for medicine and society. These are illustrated using a controversial case of so-called “gender dysphoria”: Is the wish of a transident patient for medical gender reassignment fundamentally “ethically unproblematic” or is this the patient’s right to self-determination and the doctor’s duty of care: in conflict with each other internally?
Illness: More than a scientific description?
We became particularly aware of the ethical dilemmas of dealing with illness during the exceptional circumstances of the Corona pandemic and the subsequent Long Covid illnesses. There are questions such as: How should medical resources such as scarce vaccine doses be distributed? Do ethical criteria such as “fairness” and “justice” also play a role here? Who decides on the determination and attribution of illness? These questions are of utmost importance not only for medical staff such as doctors, but also for anyone who deals with the concept of illness in terms of classification. Ethical and practical implications are relevant for health insurance companies and similar institutions as well as for anyone interested in philosophy.
About the author
Frank-Rüdiger Menn (born 1954) is originally an economist and has been studying medical ethics (Master) at the Institute for History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2020. In addition to various publications, he is a volunteer patient carer for larynx-operated patients at the Bavarian State Association of Laryngeal-Operated Patients.
The book was published by GRIN Verlag in April 2024 (ISBN: 978-3-38901-464-6)
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Free review copies can be obtained directly from the publisher at [email protected].
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