The ethical void: a critical analysis of commissioned expert reports on Swedish healthcare governance
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 22 November 2023
Issue publication date: 24 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute knowledge on ethical issues and reasoning in expert reports concerning healthcare governance, commissioned by the Swedish healthcare system.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth analysis of ethical issues and reasoning in 36 commissioned expert reports was performed. Twenty-seven interviews with commissioners and producers of the reports were also carried out and analysed.
Findings
Some ethical issues were identified in the reports. But ethical reasoning was rarely evident. The meaning of ethical concepts could be devalued and changed over time and thereby deviate from statutory ethical goals and values. Several ethical issues of great concern for the Swedish public healthcare were also absent.
Practical implications
The commissioner of expert reports needs to ensure that comprehensive ethical considerations and ethical analysis are integrated in the expert reports.
Originality/value
Based on an extensive data material this paper reveals an ethical void in expert reports on healthcare governance. By avoiding ethical issues there is a risk that the expert reports could bring about reforms and control models that have ethically undesirable consequences for people and society.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The research on which this paper builds has been financed by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (project no 2018–01558). The authors thank the higher seminar in Medical Ethics, Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics at Uppsala University, for helpful comments on an early draft, and Stefan Svallfors for helpful comments on the final draft.
Citation
Falkenström, E. and Höglund, A.T. (2024), "The ethical void: a critical analysis of commissioned expert reports on Swedish healthcare governance", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 32-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-09-2022-0261
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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