MEDYCYNA I ZDROWIE W SPOŁECZEŃSTWIE KONSUMPCYJNYM: MAKDONALDYZACJA OPIEKI ZDROWOTNEJ VERSUS RYZYKO ZDROWOTNE
MEDICINE AND HEALTH IN CONSUMPTION SOCIETY: THE MCDONALDIZATION OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEM VERSUS HEALTH RISK

Summary/Abstract: The system of health care in Poland aims at creation of new health order. There are visible tendencies to shift the responsibility for health of Polish society and the quality of health services from the medical institutions to the citizens. The processes of reorganization, commercialization and privatization of health care institutions introduce the free-market elements into the public health sector. Health becomes a product which is subject to the same mechanisms as all the other commodities. Health care system transforms into consumption system: a patient becomes a client, a doctor becomes a supplier of services. The market-based approach towards the health leads to mcdonaldization of health care system. The article refers to George Ritzer’s concept of mcdonaldization and related paradoxes of medicine and health care: effectiveness, foreseeability, calculability and automation. The health risk emerging from the new phenomena related to economization of medicine is being analyzed.

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