The Relational Self and the Right to Give Care1

Abstract

A public ethic of care is a powerful tool for understanding and developing ethical and effective social policies. After sketching care theory and its central values and claims, this article identifies hospice programs as embodying a public ethic of care. Then, it scrutinizes the care needs and practices of terminally ill patients and families who are served by hospices. Building on this analysis, I argue that in the United States caregivers are made unduly vulnerable, and that impediments and strains to caregiving can be detrimental to the development and exercise of basic human capabilities. Accordingly, the article makes the case for a right to give care. It also concludes that public efforts to mitigate the burdens of informal caregiving are necessary to make such a right meaningful.