The different other – towards an including ethics of care

Abstract

The aim of this article is to continue the discussion about factors of importance for an including ethics of care. A further polarization between partiality and impartiality does not seem a relevant approach. What is important is to direct attention both to the other and to the third person, which requires an acknowledgement of responsibility that extends beyond established relationships. Thus, we need to draw attention not only to the vulnerability existing within every seriously ill or injured person, but to factors of importance for marginalization of groups like refugees, people suffering from serious mental illness, and substance misusers, to mention some in the Western world. Marginalized groups are groups experiencing a discrepancy between need of health care and care given. They are not given proper priority in the distribution of resources, and they may experience ignorance when they first meet the healthcare system as patients. Efforts to understand what circumstances can lead to inadequate inclusion indicate that the elements of differentness and extensive losses of life contexts which may be causing feelings of hopelessness and helplessness in the health professionals, are key factors posing challenges to empathy both within and beyond established relationships, besides geographical distance. Groups of people who have suffered extensive loss in their life contexts may be threatening for us, as they reflect our own fears, and remind us of our own vulnerability. I raise the question: How can we contribute to meeting the need for an ethics of care that extends beyond the familiar to the unfamiliar both in established and non-established relationships?

Losses related to everyday occupations for adults affected by mental illness

“…Loss has been described as a topic which may be threatening (31) or which has been avoided in the area of mental health (32). However, being able to share situations of loss and have these experiences validated were seen as cathartic for most participants.…”

Marginalisation as a Possible Health Issue: an Exercise in Practice-Based Ethical Education

“…Our experiences also increased our awareness of our commonalities as human beings, seeing ourselves in others despite our differences (Myhrvold 2006). A presentation of the project reports at school provides a good illustration of this.…”

“…In my effort to conceptualise our experiences, losses of life contexts (Fløistad 2000;Myhrvold 2006) were found to be parallel to the various dimensions of marginalisation. Those who are suffering from extensive losses may experience marginalisation in many of the dimensions of the phenomenon in addition to their health problems, and/or they may believe that these losses are having an impact on their health status.…”

“…The human life-world is made up of family, friends, partners, work, recreation, society, history, nature and philosophy of life or religion, summed up in the concept of life contexts (Fløistad 2000;Myhrvold 2006). Because each life context has signficance in its own right and serves as a means of enriching the other, extensive losses may limit a person's possibility to participate socially and politically.…”

“…The evaluation of the ethics course also pointed to the importance of challenging our tendency to transfer conclusions drawn from the group level to the individual level as well as our tendency to empathise with those we perceive to be like us (Myhrvold 2006). Studying professional and ethical responsibility for individuals and groups facing marginalisation and dilemmas that arise in the interface between e.g.…”