The physiotherapists use several tools to provide professional
examinations, diagnostics and treatments (Study I; II), and at times they act in
ways which may be ethically and legally questioned when enhancing care for their
patients (Study II). The physiotherapists are aware of several inherent
understandings of ethics and they strive to keep updated through post-graduate
education, as it is seen as a means to benefit the patients – and as a moral
obligation to avoid harm or risk – but also as a means to provide oneself with
professional arguments for being an ethically sound businessperson (Study II; III).
The physiotherapists propose several suggestions for how to bridge the ‘to be’ and
the ‘ought to be’ in future political strategies and organization of Danish
physiotherapeutic private practice (Study III). Their explicit consciousness on
ethical issues is primarily constructed when their clientele are regarded as being at
risk. In the first sessions (Study I) and in meetings with the so-called ‘difficult’
patients, the physiotherapists’ ethical consciousness seem aroused as these
situations do not just flow; they require conscious reflections about ethical
reflections and pedagogic strategies (Study I; II) in order to keep the patient in
their businesses (Study IV).