Main description:

This book challenges readers to rethink rural health ethics. Traditional approaches to health ethics are often urban-centric, making implicit assumptions about how values and norms apply in health care practice, and as such may fail to take into account the complexity, depth, richness, and diversity of the rural context. There are ethically relevant differences between rural health practice and rural health services delivery and urban practice and delivery that go beyond the stereotypes associated with rural life and rural health services. This book examines key values in the rural context that have not been fully explored or taken into account when we examine health ethics issues, including the values of community and place, and a need to "revalue" relationships. It also advocates for a greater attention to meso and macro level analysis in rural health ethics as being critical to ethical analysis of rural health care. This book is essential reading for those involved in health ethics, rural health policy and governance, and for rural health providers.

Contents:

Introduction.- PART 1: Deconstructing rural health ethics.- Rural health ethics: Where have we been and what's missing?.- The deficit perspective.- The idealisation of rural life and rural health care.- PART II: Reconstructing rural health ethics.- The value of place.- The value of community.- The value of relationships.- Taking it to the next (meso) level: organisational ethics.- The big picture: ethics, health policy, health systems and rural health care.- Rethinking rural health ethics.- Index.