Is There a Legitimate Concept of Drug-Centered Care?

Abstract

Howard Brody identifies “drug-centered care” as a contrast to “patient-centered care” and asks whether drug-centered care promotes the same outcomes that justify patient-centered care—health and dignity for patients and virtue in providers. Answering in the negative, Brody provides a sobering account of how the pharmaceutical industry molds our disease concepts and our perspectives on medications as medical tools. Brody’s new concept was set up to fail, much as if he had named it “money-centered care” or simply “bad care.” This essay asks whether there is a way to reconceptualize drug-centered care such that, even if it does not promote health, dignity, and virtue, it is at least not obviously at odds with these goals. I identify four ways to show that drug-centered care has, in limited cases, morally legitimate application. I show that whether the morally legitimate application of drug-centered care is in the service of health per se, enhancement or quality of life depends on the theoretical background adopted.