Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal

Dorff, Elliot N.
Paying for Medical Care: A Jewish View
Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal - Volume 7, Number 1, March 1997, pp. 15-30

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Money motivates people, lubricates the movement of resources, mobilizes talent, and breaks down some barriers. But money also has a darker side; it can distract, corrupt, distort, and cruelly exclude. Money is a useful but unruly servant; sometimes, a hard master. The professional, at least in part, belongs to the world of money. We sometimes distinguish the amateur from the professional in that the amateur does it for love; the professional, for money. The professional has one foot in the marketplace, but also, purportedly, professes something else--beyond the bottom line. The following discussion explores the morally complex ties and tensions between money and the medical professions.