Moral Legitimacy: The Struggle Of Homeopathy in the NHS

This article deploys a well-established theoretical model from the accountability literature to the domain of bioethics. Specifically, homeopathy is identified as a controversial industry and the strategic action of advocates to secure moral legitimacy and attract public funding is explored. The Gla...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioethics
Main Author: Crawford, Louise (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2016]
In: Bioethics
RelBib Classification:KBF British Isles
NCH Medical ethics
TK Recent history
Further subjects:B Accountability
B NHS
B controversial practice
B Moral legitimacy
B Homeopathy
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Description
Summary:This article deploys a well-established theoretical model from the accountability literature to the domain of bioethics. Specifically, homeopathy is identified as a controversial industry and the strategic action of advocates to secure moral legitimacy and attract public funding is explored. The Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital (GHH) is used as the location to examine legitimizing strategies, from gaining legitimacy as a National Health Service (NHS) hospital in 1948, followed by maintaining and repairing legitimacy in response to government enquires in 2000 and 2010. An analysis of legitimizing strategies leads to the conclusion that advocates have been unsuccessful in maintaining and repairing moral legitimacy for homeopathy, thus threatening continued public funding for this unscientific medical modality. This is an encouraging development towards open and transparent NHS accountability for targeting limited public resources in pursuit of maximizing society's health and well-being. Policy implications and areas for future research are suggested.
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12227