Edmund Pellegrino claims that medical ethics must be derived from a perception of the patient's "damaged humanity," rather than from the self-imposed duties of professionals. This essay explores the meaning and examines the challenges to this patient-centered ethic. Social scientific and bioethical interpretations of medicine constitute one kind of challenge. A more pervasive challenge is the ascendancy of managed care, and especially investor-owned, for-profit managed care. A list of questions addressed to patients, physicians and organizations is offered as one means of assessing this threat and moving toward morally trustworthy relationships.