Trust Is An Intrinsic Value For Doctor-patient Relationship

To conquer the disease and relief the pain of human being is the essential purpose of medicine, which occurs and develops with the disease evolution. Doctors appear in the human society as long as there are unwell people, who are called patients, pursuing care. Doctor and patient, as the medicine and disease, consistent with each other and can not be separated, just like fish and water. Therefore, every medical service and care is provided on this fundamental relationship between doctor and patient, without which, as an individual respectively, the doctor would not be able to get to know and understand his suffering patient, the patient won't let the"stranger"to invade either his body or his confidentiality.As a professional relationship, the doctor-patient relationship is a kind of relationship forming in the medical actions which always involve two parties, the doctor and the patient, whose performances are limited and restricted by both of the professional standards and moral requirements. With the rapid development of medical technology, the increasing expectation of medicine and the awareness of patients'autonomy in decision-making, as well as the reform of medical system and regulation of reimbursement mechanism, the doctor-patient relationship has become more and more complex, penetrating in the social system as a whole.Since the implementation of the reform and opening policy, China hasundergone a systemic and profound change in the whole society, such as the transformation from planning economy to market economy, the changing function of government, the reconstruct of manufacture and, the complicate distribution of diverse interests, all of which are instructed by the basic policy of"focus on development of economy". In this context, the medical service in China has been impacted inevitably and gone through an inside out transform including: a lower rate of cover of medical insurance system; a turning of medical organization structure, function and goal; a market-driven circulation system of pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, with the dramatic change of the medical system, the doctor-patient relationship in China has experienced a drastic change as well, which is characterized by the sharply growth of medical complaints, conflicts, even violence. This issue has attracted a great attention from bioethicists, medical economists to policy makers and the government. However, due to the complexity of this topic and a great deal of factors contributing to a much broader dominant for the research, there is no consensus but a variety of arguments about this subject.This essay tries to employ the intrinsic value of doctor-patient relationship—trust as the break point for discussion. By introducing the medical system of New Zealand and its trust status between doctor and patient; comparing and analyzing the different social and economic factors contributing to both individual trust and institutional trust of doctor-patient relationship, it centers on discovering a new perspective for current study on this particular issue and tries to find out effective ways to release the tension of doctor-patient relationship as well as providing the ethical justification for a requirement of building trust between the two parties.The first chapter introduces the background of this issue and reviews the current status of doctor-patient relationship in China. Based on the previous researches on this topic, it clarifies the concept and essence of doctor-patient relationship. Furthermore, it points out that the lack of trust is the key problem of China's existing doctor-patient relationship.By a comprehensive account of trust through ethical and sociological perspectives, chapter two analyzes the vulnerability of patient and a betterdoctor-patient trusting relation complies with the intrinsic requirement of the development of doctor as a profession. It argues that trust is the core value of doctor-patient relationshipIn the third chapter, by introducing the historical development and current system of medical service in both countries, it takes New Zealand as a comparative object to analyze the detailed embodiments at different levels of trust in medical relations between two countries.In the last part it summaries the previous discussions. According to China's reality, it tentatively proposes ideas on releasing the tension of doctor-patient relationship and rebuilds the trust. It refers that the process of rebuilding the trust among Chinese doctors and patients will be a much longer-lasted battle, which requires the full collaboration of medical professions, government and the whole society, especially in a context where trust of doctor-patient relationship has been completely undermined. Only by the fine-tune and reformation on the stipulation of medical policies, the investment of government, the legalization and supervision mechanism as well as the professionalism of individual physicians, can it provide a better systemic environment for building and maintaining trust as well as the requesting for moral justification.