The institutional turn in professional ethics

The traditional ideal in which professionals alone or in small groups serve their patients and clients in accord with a public-spirited goal is giving way to practice in which professionals serve in organizations that value m ainly their expertise and expect them to act in accord with the organizatio n's goals. The study of professional ethics has not kept pace with this tre nd and, as a result, has neglected the institutional aspects of ethical pro blems. I focus attention on these aspects by considering a case that raises 2 problems that are particularly relevant in the context in which professi onals now practice: the problem of representation (whom does the profession al act for) and the problem of authority (who has the right to make the pol icy for the institution).