Abstract

In this paper, I reconstruct a case study from the healthcare literature in which healthcare providers inflicted psychological and emotional harm upon a patient. To that end, I first examine the role vices play in such harmful and dysfunctional healthcare practice. Specifically, I investigate the vices of (1) uncaring, the disposition or attitude of a person who is incapable of feeling concern or empathy for another, and (2) incompetence, the incapability to perform tasks according to accepted professional standards generally due to persistent errors in both judgment and practice. Moreover, I explore the cyclic relationship between the two vices that exacerbates poor quality healthcare for patients, often with harmful outcomes. Finally, I discuss the issues surrounding the introduction of virtues into healthcare education to remedy the vices students often learn inadvertently, during their educational experience.