Open AccessApplying ethical theories to the Iranian health system governance: a critical empirical assessment
Author(s) -
Najmeh Bahmanziari,
SeyedMehrdad Mohammadi,
Amirhossein Takian,
Mohammad Arab,
Iraj Harirchi
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of medical ethics and history of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.376
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2008-0387
DOI - 10.18502/jmehm.v14i23.8183
Subject(s) - corporate governance , underpinning , utilitarianism , egalitarianism , economic justice , communitarianism , sociology , empirical research , politics , health policy , liberalism , political science , environmental ethics , public administration , engineering ethics , positive economics , health care , law , epistemology , economics , management , philosophy , civil engineering , engineering
The policies of health systems are inspired by ethical priorities. A critical review of policies can reveal the ethical theories/justice schools behind them. This study aimed to identify the ethical theory(ies) underpinning the Iranian health system governance over the past 50 years.
This was a qualitative study conducted in two stages during 2019. First, we identified and constructed the key concepts and distinctive notions of prominent ethical theories/justice schools. Then, we spotted and selected 24 strategic laws and policy documents in the Iranian health system governance during the past 50 years and analyzed their content to surmise their underlying ethical theory.
The results showed that the dominant theory affecting the policies of the Iranian health system governance over the past 50 years was egalitarian liberalism and then objective utilitarianism and relativist communitarianism.
Retrospective empirical application of ethical theories to health system governance is methodologically doable, and this application reveals the mood or priorities of the politics. Also, highlighting the underpinning ethical theories of health system governance as well as the gap between ambitions versus realization are insightful and may prospectively empower and strengthen egalitarianism