Addressing the consequences of the corporatization of reproductive medicine

Attinger, Sarah A, Jackson, Emily ORCID: 0000-0002-2052-2776, Karpin, Isabel, Kerridge, Ian, Newson, Ainsley J, Stewart, Cameron, van de Wiel, Lucy and Lipworth, Wendy (2024) Addressing the consequences of the corporatization of reproductive medicine. Medical Law Review, 32 (4). 444 - 467. ISSN 0967-0742

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Abstract

In Australia and the UK, commercialization and corporatization of assisted reproductive technologies have created a marketplace of clinics, products, and services. While this has arguably increased choice for patients, 'choice', shaped by commercial imperatives may not mean better-quality care. At present, regulation of clinics (including clinic-corporations) and clinicians focuses on the doctor-patient dyad and the clinic-consumer dyad. Scant attention has been paid to the conflicts between the clinic-corporation's duty to its shareholders and investors, the medical profession's duty to the corporations within which they practice, and the obligations of both clinicians and corporations to patients and to health systems. Frameworks of regulation based in corporate governance and business ethics, such as stakeholder models and 'corporate social responsibility', have well-recognized limits and may not translate well into healthcare settings. This means that existing governance frameworks may not meet the needs of patients or health systems. We argue for the development of novel regulatory approaches that more explicitly characterize the obligations that both corporations and clinicians in corporate environments have to patients and to society, and that promote fulfilment of these obligations. We consider mechanisms for application in the multi-jurisdictional setting of Australia, and the single jurisdictional settings of the UK.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/medlaw
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Law
Subjects:	K Law H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date Deposited:	21 May 2024 08:00
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2024 13:48
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123534

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