Power, trust, and risk: some reflections on an absent issue

In modern discussions among health professionals there is a strange lack of discussions of power. This is most notably true for the discussions about proper physician-patient relations and the discussions about trust. This article explores some of the consequences of this absence. It is argued that the absence of the issue of power hampers a serious and open moral discussion of important institutional forms in the health care system. It is also argued that some of the proposals for how to organize physician-patient interaction are rather unrealistic, mainly because the issue of power is neglected. Finally, the article develops some ideas about how power ought to be approached in modern health care.