Jeffrey Singer on the Coming Medical Ethics Crisis

For the past several years, the medical profession has been undergoing a disturbing transformation. The process was begun by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in an effort to control exploding Medicare costs, and was accelerated by the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. As a surgeon in practice for over 30 years, Jeffrey Singer has witnessed this transformation firsthand and he fears that his profession will soon be forced to abandon its traditional code of ethics. As Singer explains, the medical profession must decide—and soon—which ethical doctrine to follow: Are doctors to be agents of their patients or agents of the state?