Exam 2 Flashcards
Problem with resource allocation
How to best distribute resources at both the macro and micro levels
2 types of rights
Positive rights and negative rights
Positive rights
Entitlements to perform certain action, or to be in certain states
Negative rights
Entitlements that others NOT perform certain actions or not be in certain states
What does it mean if you have a right to have/do something?
Others cannot prevent you from having/doing that action
What are the sources of rights
God
Government/institutions
Just being a human being
Where will the funding for healthcare come from?
US, either privately or publicly
Private funding for healthcare
Comes from our income
Public funding for healthcare
Comes from tax revenue
2 conceptions of justice came from
Robert Nozick and John Rawls
Robert Nozick’s view
Libertarian view (justice as protecting entitlements)
- No person or gov has any right to a resource properly owned by another, so using taxes to pay for another’s healthcare is the same as using that person (wrong)
- Healthcare is a privilege, not a right.
John Rawls’ view
Justice as fairness/equality
- Justice requires a fair distribution of resources, such that some members of society do not disproportionately benefit without a net benefit for all members
John Rawls’ thought experiment
- You do not know anything about who you are or what you will do
- Make rules to decide what is moral or not
- Under these circumstances, people will ensure that all have equal access to the societal good, and a just society would likely consider healthcare as a human right
Examples of necessities
Clean air and water
Examples of privileges
Drivers license
Exotic Life-Saving Treatments (ELT)
Any number of life-saving treatments where demand is greater than availability
- Called exotics because they are comparatively among procedures
- Scarce resource
Rescher criteria for ELT
1) Criteria of inclusion/exclusion: decides who the candidates for ELT are
2) Criteria selection: decides who actually gets the ELT
Rescher states the process must be
1) Simple, so that all parties understand
2) Be plausible and patently reasonable to all
3) Be rationally defensible (fair)
Rescher’s factors for choosing candidates
1) Constituency factor: a hospital can exclude a patient who is not a client
2) Prospect of success factor: can exclude those which won’t be helped as much as others
3) Progress-of-science factor: a hospital that specializes in a specific kind of ailment can justly exclude patients that don’t fit criteria
Rescher’s factors for choosing recipients
1) Relative likelihood-of-success factor: same as before but not on an individual basis
2) Life-expectancy factor: does the patient have a long life ahead
3) Family role factor: is the person a mother, father, etc or a loner
4) Potential future-contributors factor: will the patient be valuable to society
5) Past services-rendered factor: has the patient been valuable to society
NOT ALL FACTORS ARE THE SAME TYPE OF FACTOR (some are biomedical while others are not)
Problems with Rescher’s selection
ELT selection may not be just a medical decision
- Looks utilitarian
- Rescher says there is no uniquely “best” system, none are optimal
Rescher’s lottery of life and death
Point system plus randomness for those with roughly equal point total