Abstract

The promotion of patient welfare is a central goal of medical professionals and serves as a fundamental principle of medical professionalism. Despite its importance, however, it is unclear what is meant by patient welfare. In my dissertation, I explore patient welfare by analyzing the ordinary notion of welfare and applying this analysis to the patient population. I argue that welfare is best understood and expressed in terms of capabilities, which I define using the structure and vocabulary of Basic Formal Ontology. I conclude that patient welfare is a multi-dimensional quality of the human organism corresponding to the degree to which that patient has realized the array of capabilities typical of the human kind. I then identify certain important implications for this view on the practice of medicine.