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rationing of healthcare resources
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Resources have always been inadequate for food, economics and healthcare and all scarce resources are rationed in one way or another. Healthcare resources can be in the forms of medicine, machinery, expensive treatment and organ transplantation. For decades, allocation of healthcare resources in an equitable manner has always been the subject of debate, concern and analysis, yet the issue has persistently resisted resolution. Scarcity of resources for healthcare and issue of allocation is permanent and inescapable (Harris, “Deciding between Patients”). Scarcity can be defined in general, in emergency and in crises as well as shortage of certain kind of treatment, medicine or organs. As a result of scarcity of resources, and some people may be left untreated or die when certain patients are prioritized and intention of is that everyone will ultimately be treated (Harris, 2009: 335). Allocation of limited resources is an ethical issue since it is vital to address the question of justice and making fair decisions. Ethical judgments and concerns are part of daily choice in allocation of health resources and also to ensure these resources are allocated in a fair and just way. This paper will explore how QALYs, ageism and responsibility in particular influence the allocation of healthcare resources in general through the lens of justice, equity, social worth, fairness, and deservingness.
A quality-adjusted life year (QALYs) is one of the most widely used measures for measuring the quality of life and is used for the assessment of health outcomes. Health is a function of length of life and quality of life (Prieto and Sacristán, 2003) and this measure serves as composite indicator which allows quantity and quality of life in a single ind...
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...ol’y 12 (1995): 147. Print.
Harris, John. “Deciding between Patients.” A Companion to Bioethics, Second Edition (2009): 333–350. Print.
Jonsen, Albert R., and Kelly A. Edwards. "Resource Allocation." : Ethical Topic in Medicine.
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Southern California, 2003. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. hsc.usc.edu/~mbernste/ethics.soc.worth.html>. Wikler, Daniel, and Sarah Marchand. "Societyʼs Allocation of Resources for Health." A
Companion to Bioethics, Second Edition (2009): 351-61. Blackwell Publishing. Print.
The family of Jahi has experienced limited resources as well as limited possibilities, however the quality of life has a strong hold on the medical decisions made by the family. According to Johnson and Rhodes (2010), quality of life (QOL) is one of the main focuses by the hospice movement (p. 64). It is known as the general well being of individuals and societies. This includes fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. The consideration of quality of life in making medical decisions regarding healthcare may involve judgments about the worth of life, and that ...
She also highlights the driving forces such as money and profit oriented market, pointing to the demands of increasingly sophisticated medical technology by the very few with the " most buying power. This need stems from an important to human rights and reflecting the Christian teachings principle of autonomy. As she recognizes it as an important in the recognition of human value principle, she does not want it to be the only one to be valued. She speaks of the importance of affecting our and the world 's policies allowing the preferential option for the poor and fulfilling our Christian obligations to love our neighbor. She also speaks of the common good such as health care, and its just distribution. Taking care of the poor, and the just distribution of the common good are the principles that should be valued. After all, as Mahatma Gandhi once said; "The greatness of a nation is measured by how it cares for its most vulnerable
Tom Harpur, in his 1990 article in the Toronto Star - "Human dignity must figure in decisions to prolong life" - presents numerous arguments in support of his thesis that the use of advanced medical technology to prolong life is often immoral and unethical, and does not take into consideration the wishes of the patient or their human dignity. However, it must be noted that the opening one-third of the article is devoted to a particular "human interest" story which the author uses to illustrate his broader argument, as well as to arouse pity among readers to support his view that human life should not always be prolonged by medical technology. This opening section suggests that a critical analysis of Harpur 's arguments may find widespread use of logical fallacies in support of the article 's thesis. In this essay I will argue that, given how greatly
...ne article, The Troubling Shortage Of Organ Donors In The U.S., makes it well known that there is a huge shortage of organ donors throughout the united states. It emphasizes that the need for kidneys is bigger than the need for other organs. The number of people needed a kidney is triple the amount of the people that are receiving the kidneys. The article states, “Now the United Network for Organ Sharing is considering changing the rules for kidneys to be more like hearts, matching younger donors with younger recipients and also giving priority to the healthier patients” (Siegel). This view point will help defend my argument on seeing that we need to find a way to solve organ shortages throughout the united states. I argue that everyone should be a priority patient, and they should find a way to solve organ shortages, that way everyone would be a priority patient.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how Electronic Medical Records (EMR), affects healthcare delivery. I will discuss the positives and negatives this issue has on healthcare and how it effects the cost and quality for healthcare services. In addition, I will identify any potential trade-offs to cost or quality. Lastly, I will discuss how the EMR affects my job as well as any challenges or opportunities this issue presents.
When medical care providers are forced to make decisions and these decisions “violate one of the four principles of medical ethics” so that they can adhere to another of these principles this is considered an ethical dilemma (“Medical Ethics & the Rationing of Health Care: Introduction”, n.d., p. 1). Bioethicists refer to the healthcare ethics four principles in their merits evaluation and medical procedure difficulties as transplants. Organ and or transplant allocation policies has a mixture of legal, ethical, scientific and many others, however the focus here will be to show how the four ethical principles, autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice, applies to transplant allocation (Childress, 2001, p. 5).
There are profound effects of ageism that can be harmful to a patient’s overall health. Ageism can cause physicians to consistently treat older patients unequally compared to younger adults. Unequal treatment can be divided into the under-treatment of symptoms and the over-treatment of symptoms. The imbalance in how a physician would treat a geriatric patient is ageist because the older adult is not getting fair treatment in every case. Under-treatment and over-treatment are different; however, they are both equally as harmful to a patients health.
The just delivery of health care falls into a pattern of rights. Medicaid and the US political view aside, the right to health care is a basic human right whose only requirement is that someone be a human being regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic class. That is, the right is a non-relational right that every human needs irrespective of differences in individual goals (Lomasky, 1981). As a positive right, it is the obligation of others to provide for one’s health needs, within limits. In satisfying the right to health care, society contributes toward the fulfillment of the right for the individual. In Medicaid for example, the right is supported through taxation, among other mechanisms and delivered by a
The principle of distributive justice as it relates to healthcare requires that all resources are allocated equitably among all individuals. Resources, whether abundant or scare are distributed fairly to any individual requiring them but in the constrained resource environment of available organs criteria have already been established by other agencies. First and foremost the establishment of these criteria negate the principle of distributive justice because there are individuals who regardless of their place on the waiting list will be turned away. On the other hand individuals with higher incomes or additional financial means have the advantage over those with limited financial assets if advertising and purchasing organs is the future trend of transplant surgery. Again distributive justice is violated, this time ...
“The only real nation is humanity” (Farmer 123). This quote represents a huge message that is received in, Tracy Kidder’s, Mountains Beyond Mountains. This book argues that universal healthcare is a right and not a privilege. Kidder’s book also shows the audience that every individual, no matter what the circumstances, is entitled to receive quality health care. In the book Kidder represents, Paul Farmer, a man who spends his entire life determined to improve the health care of impoverished areas around the world, namely Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the world. By doing this the audience learns of the horrible circumstances, and the lack of quality health care that nations like Haiti live with everyday, why every person has the right to healthcare no matter what, and how cost effectiveness should not determine whether or not these people get to live or die. Two texts that also argue this idea are Monte Leach’s “Ensuring Health Care as a Global Human Right,” and Darshak Sanghavi’s “Is it Cost Effective to Treat the World’s Poor.” Leach’s article is an interview with Benjamin Crème that illustrates why food, shelter, education, and healthcare are human rights that have to be available to everyone. He shares many of the same views on health care as Farmer, and the two also share similar solutions to this ongoing problem. Leach also talks about the rapidly growing aids epidemic, and how it must be stopped. Like farmer, he also argues that it is easier to prevent these diseases then to cure them. Furthermore, Sanghavi’s article represents many of the questions that people would ask about cost effectiveness. Yet similar to Farmer’s views, Sanghavi argues that letting the poor d...
Theories concerned with ageing are constructed in an attempt to objectively satisfy the inquiries that arise after studying ageing and to provide evidence based clarifications. In the context of this essay, they allow troubleshooting regarding issues around the type of support would be expected to be needed by Betty and her son. Bengtson et al, (1999) accepts the potential pragmatism of the theories nevertheless he argues that they can be generalised and unimaginative. The controversy regarding theorising ageing becomes especially relevant when they are applied in isolation failing to address that “the science and positivism are severely limiting… for understanding aspects of ageing.” Bengtson et al (1999)
Thank you for your insightful evaluation and responses to the questions presented this week. As you stated, health care rationing often takes many shapes and forms. Organ allocation is an excellent example of current health care rationing. In fact, Rossoff (2014), who is a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Duke University Medical Center and the director of clinical ethics at Duke University Hospital, also noted organ allocation as a current form of health care rationing in his book titled Rationing is Not a Four-letter Word: Setting Limits on Health Care.
To conclude, health care is a primary responsibility of governments. They have to make sure that everybody has a total insurance which ensures equality between all members of the society with no segregation between rich and poor. Marxist theory mentioned that medicine became a profitable project more than a human task to serve people and save their lives as it was linked to capitalism. John, the poor factory man was guilty for doing such a sever action to keep hostages but at the same time he wasn’t guilty to be poor and didn’t have an insurance to save his son’s life. Physician role is to be fair when dealing with patients and to think of morals and ethics of the profession before thinking of money.
The Elderly individuals face problems like Ageism. The older society is not given the same options in treatment as the younger society. The Elderly who battle cancer do not receive chemotherapy like the younger generation. Some people believe that doctors are genuinely worried about their patients and others believe that age discrimination is the reason of treatment discrepancy (Dockter & Keene, 2009).
The objective of this project shall identify the extent to which the principle of equity underpins government strategy in contemporary Irish health policy. In order to examine this principle, the essay will focus on the health services for older people. Such services are an important topic to address in modern day Irish society because the population of those aged over 65 is set to increase considerably which will cause particular economic and social implications for healthcare services in the future. Initially the paper shall provide a foundation of historical developments that have emerged within the Irish Healthcare system and highlight social policy implementations that have occurred. Following this, the paper will go on to discuss 'equity' with emphasis placed on the importance of effective policy measures to safeguard the equity and fair treatment of the elderly within the Irish healthcare system. Inference shall be made to the medical card scheme, hospital bed waiting lists, services for elderly people and the equity issues involving public and private healthcare. It shall also examine government policy papers in terms of how the two-tiered health system shows evidence of inequality that goes against the code of equity sought out by the `Quality and Fairness' (2001) report. Finally this essay will finish with a conclusion of the overall discussion.