At first glance, it seems uncontroversial that the primacy of patient welfare must not be restricted by physicians’ profit motive. Yet, the many economic considerations the allocation and distribution of limited resources introduce into health care systems challenge this presumption and call for a more nuanced discussion.
To exemplify: Certain cancer drugs can be administered on different routes: intravenous and subcutaneous. Administration route does not affect effects or increase side effects of the drug.
However, intravenous administration takes longer than subcutaneous administration, meaning that patients’ welfare is restricted as they spend more time in the healthcare setting when receiving intravenous treatment. In German outpatient healthcare, physicians generate more profit if those drugs are administered intravenously. The German outpatient healthcare depends
on registered private practices, therefore, it is important to generate profit. “Private” not referring to the patients’ insurance status, but to the practice being privately run and owned by one physician or more. Those physicians finance their registered outpatient practice and make their living with what they earn by treating patients while being the cornerstone of outpatient care. In this context, is it acceptable to restrict patient welfare for physicians’ profit?
In my research, I analyse the notion of profit and distinguish between different kinds of profit motives. Based on that, I critically examine whether patient welfare may, under certain conditions, legitimately be restricted by profit motives within healthcare systems.

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