Do doctors work for patients in today's business-mentality world: Looking through consumer choice theory lens?

Abstract

In the 21st century world, people mostly behave with business-mentality without considering moral obligations in society. In this behavioral change, service-market, particularly Medical-care service-market is appeared to be vulnerable. Because of supplying medical-care services, the doctor or hospital receives capitation payments, fees-for-services, risk pool settlements, incentive payments or other fees. However, today it is probably the most criticized profession in world-economy country-wise such as Bangladesh. Sometimes doctors here are blamed for requiring unnecessary tests of patients for doctor’s own monetary gains. In some cases, doctors’ efforts are assumed to be connecting with pharmaceutical-products promotion by writing lengthy prescriptions. Some group claims that today doctors spend less time for each patient. All these interactions justify claiming that a patient works for a doctor when the patient visits a doctor for medical-care services. Here the existence of “asymmetric information” dominates the medical-care market where doctor takes advantages in multi-faucets. It causes market inefficiency that creates negative economic externalities – deadweight loss. Improving medical education with special emphasis on ethical aspects and soft skills in communication are considered important in aim to reduce the magnitudes of today’s dilemma of medical-care service-market. Also, strict enforcements of medical-care provisions and ethical code of conduct among all health works can be instrumental. Finally, the answer to the question “Do doctors work for patients or something else, depends on who are asked. But the reflections of today’s medical-care-market in economy of Bangladesh are no deniable, which deserves to be studied further curtailing the magnitudes of the problem.