Sherwin (1994) provides a number of specific areas of feminist concern with respect to the health care context including the following:

• The inherent inequality of the physician/patient relationship
• The politics of medicine including authoritarian patterns of control and the differential treatment of men and women
• Access to scarce resources by the poor and other medically underserved groups
• The ability of patients to receive and understand the specialized medical information needed to maintain their autonomous decision making
• The unequal burdens of family care giving for women

A general strength of feminist ethics is an emphasis on the importance of considering the context of an individual situation in medical decision-making. Similarly, the emphasis on relationships allows for the realities of emotion and intuition to be factors in our deliberations. On the other hand, as pointed out by Munson (2004), the wide range of feminist views prevents feminist theory from presenting one unified and coherent theory. Additionally, there does not appear to be a method for resolving moral conflicts.

For more on feminist theory and feminist ethics see:

• Feminist Theory Website.
• FeministEthics.ca.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Feminist Bioethics.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Feminist Ethics.