Ética del reconocimiento recíproco en el ámbito de la salud

Resumen

Objective. To introduce the concept of "reciprocal\nrecognition" as a tool for the foundation of bioethics\nand for the analysis of problematic/difficult cases\nin bioethical reflection.\nHypotheses. Ethical and legal positivism has revealed to\nbe insufficient in order to understand and find solutions\nto the new problems emerged in the health context.\nHonneth�s bidirectional recognition -also called �mutual\nrecognition� by Ricoeur and Cortina-, allows building up\na model of justice, which can be useful in the health\nsector if applied to relations between patients and staff,\namong health professionals or between all of them and\nthe health administration. Conflicts in clinical practice, in\nthe management of health or in public health can be\nexplained by the lack of bidirectional recognition. Applied\nto the analysis of conflicts, the concept of recognition\nallows transforming troubled relations into\npartnerships. It is a new approach to the issue, since\nmutual recognition has barely been considered as a\nfoundation of bioethics up to now.\nWork methodology. First of all, after having collected\nideas from a workshop of the University of Valencia�s\nResearch Group in Bioethics (GIBUV) in 2009, and having\nreviewed the literature provided by the director of\nthis group, a systematic search of publications in Dilemata,\nIsegoría and MEDLINE was conducted. In the\nfirst two journals the search was carried out by authorship\nand using the keyword "recognition", whilst in\nMEDLINE it was limited to articles published in the last\nten years -in English, Spanish, French or Italian-, with\nthe keyword groups "ethics, medical and principles and\nsocial values� and �recognition and ethics, medical".\nThe article starts considering the state of matter concerning\nthe concept of Honneth�s "mutual recognition"\nand taking into account other authors� contributions and\nof the relevant literature. The research is expected to\nhighlight the idea of mutual recognition in the context\nof health care, with an aim to find an answer to the\nmain issue: whether the recognition might or cannot\nbecome the basis on which a new theory of justice applicable\nto the health field is built.