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Not the Usual Suspects: Addressing Layers of Vulnerability.
- Source :
- Bioethics; Jul2013, Vol. 27 Issue 6, p325-332, 8p
- Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- This paper challenges the traditional account of vulnerability in healthcare which conceptualizes vulnerability as a list of identifiable subpopulations. This list of 'usual suspects', focusing on groups from lower resource settings, is a narrow account of vulnerability. In this article we argue that in certain circumstances middle-class individuals can be also rendered vulnerable. We propose a relational and layered account of vulnerability and explore this concept using the case study of cord blood ( CB) banking. In the first section, two different approaches to 'vulnerability' are contrasted: categorical versus layered. In the second section, we describe CB banking and present a case study of CB banking in Argentina. We examine the types of pressure that middle-class pregnant women feel when considering CB collection and storage. In section three, we use the CB banking case study to critique the categorical approach to vulnerability: this model is unable to account for the ways in which these women are vulnerable. A layered account of vulnerability identifies several ways in which middle-class women are vulnerable. Finally, by utilizing the layered approach, this paper suggests how public health policies could be designed to overcome vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02699702
- Volume :
- 27
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Bioethics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 88105859
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12035