tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6642011.post116290283260752445..comments2023-10-29T10:32:36.914-04:00Comments on Philosophy, et cetera: Tradeoffs and Medical ValuesRichard Y Chappellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725218276285291235noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6642011.post-1163149067742948902006-11-10T03:57:00.000-05:002006-11-10T03:57:00.000-05:00Democracies are doomed to have trouble with these ...Democracies are doomed to have trouble with these sorts of things because the public just can’t get their heads around the “price to a life” thing BUT to allocate resources correctly there must be one. If you don't do that you will tend to spend 10 million saving one guys life and refuse to spend 1 million saving someone else’s.<BR/><BR/>Also good point about the euthanasia. Although, I think there is a moral purity argument going on there, which is one way to look at it even if I personally would be concequientialist. Maybe the public want the medical system to be ‘morally pure’.<BR/><BR/>As to explicit policy (at a theoretical level) would not there be a problem with some people making decisions on one basis and others making decisions on another basis and thus creating a suboptimal system by either (or even combined) standard?Geniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11624496692217466430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6642011.post-1163095458741857422006-11-09T13:04:00.000-05:002006-11-09T13:04:00.000-05:00Excellent post. I've argued myself that health car...Excellent post. I've argued myself that health care policy making is value laden, and that these values need to be made explicit. In particular I argued that otherwise doctors are likely to game and thus thwart prioritisation systems (if you're interested, the paper is forthcoming in the Journal of Medical Ethics and is called "Am I my brothers gatekeeper? Professional ethics and the prioritisation of health care")<BR/><BR/>Having talked to health care managers in NZ about this, they have said that one of the things that prevents them trialing new drugs is that if they turn out to not be cost effective, they cannot withdraw them because as soon as they try there is patient outcry, and then media attention and then the minister steps in and saves the poor patients from those hard hearted health care managers...<BR/><BR/>There was btw an excellent paper about active voluntary euthanasia and prioritisation of health care resources a few years ago, arguing I thought quite cogently that denying people active voluntary euthanasia while at the same time allowing others, who want to live to die due to a lack of resources was perverse. Unfortunately I cannot remember the authors name nor the title off hand.<BR/><BR/>David HunterDavid Hunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10511387997239132302noreply@blogger.com