Sustainable and responsible preventive medicine

Preventive medicine is among the most expansive §activities in contemporary healthcare. The §discipline however faces major practical, ethical§and epistemic challenges. Linn Getz argues that §individually oriented preventive medicine is §becoming so risk focused, technified and §dehumanized that its integrity and clinical §potential may begin to deteriorate. Departing from §everyday, clinical scenarios including §cardiovascular disease prevention and pregnancy §care, she documents that the current knowledge §foundation and theoretical underpinnings §of modern, preventive medicine are too limited. §Despite the medical profession s intent to do good, §these fundamental shortcomings imply a potential for §inflicting harm, both on the individual and societal §level. Some prerequisites for a more sustainable and §responsible preventive medicine are outlined. This §work is based on an innovative doctoral thesis where §empirical research is combined with theoretical §reflections with reference to scholars such as §Martin Heidegger, Hans Jonas, Charles Taylor, Ivan §Illich, Arthur Frank, Drew Leder, Ian McWhinney, Gro §Harlem Brundtland and Eric Cassell.