Between hospitality and the inhospitable: Critical judgments on the professional-beneficiary relationship within assisted reproductive technology

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent decades, the health sector has witnessed the emergence of social movements of patients aimed at redefining public policies on access to and provision of medical care. These changes are reflected in the conceptual models of patient-centred care, developed to guide medical practice towards patients’ expectations and wishes. However, different patient-centred models remain eminently focused on the dimension of solicitude when attending to patients’ specific needs: interpersonal relations based on the caregiver’s attention to the patient’s singularity. Namely, patients can express other moral references concerning their experiences in clinical contexts. That is the case with hospitality. Based on a Portuguese research project focused on the clinical experience of ART beneficiaries, this article aims to analyse hospitality as a moral orientation with specific proprieties associated with attending to patients’ singularity, thus aiming to contribute to the ongoing discussion and revision of the conceptual models of patient-centred care.