Should Health Care be Rationed by Age?
- 1 June 1995
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine
- Vol. 23 (2), 81-84
- https://doi.org/10.1177/140349489502300201
Abstract
Can rationing of health care by chronological age be justified on ethical grounds? The principles of equality, solidarity, liberty and efficiency are used as value premises in the discussion. Health care rationing by age is inconsistent with the principles of equality and liberty. But in some situations such rationing has support from the principles of solidarity and efficiency. The compromise suggested is that, as a rule, rationing by age should not be permitted, except in situations with intrinsic scarcity (as is the case with transplantation) and in situations with temporary extrinsic scarcity (as was the case with dialysis for a period of time). However, the main purpose is not to defend this position, but to identify and analyze the ethical conflicts such rationing gives rise to.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Health Care Allocations: Responses to the Unjust, the Unfortunate, and the UndesirablePublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1981
- Justice: A Philosophical ReviewPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1981