Basic care, bodily knowledge and feminist ethics

Within medical schools and within research concerning the ethical questions of health care, basic care and its allied participants have not been stressed enough. The aim of this paper is to emphasise the practice of basic care and some moral problems in connection to this practice. Basic care is the care-provider's providing assistance for patients with bodily dysfunction. The relationships between patient and care-provider in basic care have many substantial similarities with other close social relationships. Thus, the interactive relationships in basic care are an important matter of public concern. Seen from an ethical perspective, its significance due to the welfare-aspects of society is obvious. Patients and professionals in basic care have together a unique knowledge about the meaning of being. Ethics is much more than following theories, rules, and principles and this article presents an alternative to the dominant approaches of health care ethics.