Publication
Title
An account of medical treatment, with a preliminary account of medical conditions
Author
Abstract
In this article, I present a philosophical account of medical treatment. In support of this account, I offer a suggestive account of medical conditions. The account of medical treatment uses three desiderata to demarcate treatment from non-treatment. Namely, a treatment should: (1) be describable by features that enable it to be standardized and characterized as a discrete intervention, (2) target a specific medical condition, and (3) have the possibility of being effective. The account of medical conditions underlies the second desideratum and attempts to tie medical conditions closely to biological dysfunction, while also including some conditions for which biological dysfunction is absent or its presence uncertain. I offer a simple typology of treatments and show how the accounts are relevant to treatment effectiveness, disease, placebos, contested treatments, and treatment standardization.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Metamedicine. - Dordrecht, 1980 - 1982
Theoretical medicine and bioethics. - Dordrecht, 1998, currens
Publication
Dordrecht : Springer , 2023
ISSN
0166-2031 [print]
1573-1200 [online]
DOI
10.1007/S11017-023-09641-3
Volume/pages
44 (2023) , p. 607-633
ISI
001059880300001
Pubmed ID
37620606
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Medical Treatment, Evidence of Effectiveness, and Placebo.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 02.10.2023
Last edited 03.11.2024
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