Report cards, informed consent and market forces

Abstract

What ethical ramifications might the commercial context of much modern medicine have for the report card movement? We live in a world in which medicine in general is increasingly subject to market forces; not only are more and more goods and services commodified, and hence able to be procured on the open market, but within the public sphere, market-like accountability processes are increasingly set in place. We need to consider what implications this social context might have for the ethical status of report cards. perhaps what is morally permissible in the context of public provision might transmogrify into the morally pernicious in a commercial environment. What difference, if any, might market forces make?