The wages of healing: ethical issues in the compensation of physicians

Though not often addressed as a moral issue, the incomes of physicians and other health professionals are fraught with ethical significance. While there is no perfect means of determining appropriate income level, possible approaches include market worth, comparable worth, societal worth, and fairness. In fact, however, income is not the only reward that makes a medical career worthwhile, and a preoccupation with wealth can impede the pursuit of other equally worthy objectives. In an era when financial incentives and disincentives tend to receive the lionshare of attention, it is vital that physicians continue to bear these other objectives in mind.