This article provides a critical appraisal of the case for healthcare being rationed away from older patients to those who are younger. After sketching a metaphysics of elderliness
Many ethicists argue that we should respect persons when we distribute resources. Yet it is unclear what this means in practice. For some, the idea of respect for persons is synony
For well over 20 years I have been arguing that someday we will have to ration health care for the elderly. I got started in the mid-1980s when I served on an Office of Technology
Many societies, and nearly all wealthy, developed countries, provide universal access to a broad range of public health and personal medical services. Is such access to health care
Few people who become ill or have ill loved ones want less than the best care possible, regardless of cost. Their clinicians generally want to do the best they can for their patien
When discussing the allocation of medical resources, it is common to distinguish between macroallocation and microallocation. The former refers to an entire system of healthcare; i
Health care in the United States is marked by extraordinary change. Not only is there continuing change in clinical practice due to technological advances, but the health care syst
Life is a precious gift held in trust: we do not own our lives, nor do we have absolute dominion over life (Ps 8:6). From conception to death our lives are entrusted to our respons
In its strict and most limited sense this refers to the assignment of various kinds of resource human, material, financial for service or use in relation to particular tasks and functions. Ethically and politically the issue is that of fairness in the allocation of resources. There are several contrasting perspectives on this: allocation according to need, according to expected utilisation, and according to merit or desert. While some argue for a single justifying criterion others acknowledge the suitability of each and then seek to rank order or otherwise relate them. The parables of the talents in New Testament Scripture point to considerations of utilisation and/or merit whereas those of the Prodigal Son and of the Good Samaritan suggest other considerations. In contemporary health-care ethics the issue of allocation is seen as a primary example of difficult decision making.