Daniel B. Sinclair
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198268277
- eISBN:
- 9780191683480
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198268277.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This book deals with the following controversial issues in Jewish Law: abortion, assisted reproduction, genetics, the obligation to heal, patient autonomy, treatment of the terminally ill, the ...
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This book deals with the following controversial issues in Jewish Law: abortion, assisted reproduction, genetics, the obligation to heal, patient autonomy, treatment of the terminally ill, the definition of death, organ donations, and the allocation of scarce medical resources. The book focuses upon the complex interplay between legal and moral elements in the decision-making process, particularly when questions of life and death (such as abortion and treatment of the terminally ill) are involved. The author argues that the moral element in Jewish biomedical law is of a universal, rational nature, and its theoretical basis may be located in a weak form of Natural law theory regarding the value of human life in the Jewish legal tradition. The concept of patient autonomy in Jewish biomedical law is more limited than in contemporary liberal jurisprudence, and is based upon theological as well as strictly legal elements. The influence of scientific thinking upon the decision-making process in Jewish biomedical law is illustrated in a discussion of the contemporary debate concerning the permissibility of heart transplants. In most chapters, Jewish law is compared and contrasted with Canon and Common Law, and the volume also discusses the role played by Jewish biomedical law in modern, secular Israeli law. In this context, it addresses the thorny issue of combining religious law with democratic principles within the framework of a secular legal system.Less
This book deals with the following controversial issues in Jewish Law: abortion, assisted reproduction, genetics, the obligation to heal, patient autonomy, treatment of the terminally ill, the definition of death, organ donations, and the allocation of scarce medical resources. The book focuses upon the complex interplay between legal and moral elements in the decision-making process, particularly when questions of life and death (such as abortion and treatment of the terminally ill) are involved. The author argues that the moral element in Jewish biomedical law is of a universal, rational nature, and its theoretical basis may be located in a weak form of Natural law theory regarding the value of human life in the Jewish legal tradition. The concept of patient autonomy in Jewish biomedical law is more limited than in contemporary liberal jurisprudence, and is based upon theological as well as strictly legal elements. The influence of scientific thinking upon the decision-making process in Jewish biomedical law is illustrated in a discussion of the contemporary debate concerning the permissibility of heart transplants. In most chapters, Jewish law is compared and contrasted with Canon and Common Law, and the volume also discusses the role played by Jewish biomedical law in modern, secular Israeli law. In this context, it addresses the thorny issue of combining religious law with democratic principles within the framework of a secular legal system.
Mark S. Stein
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300100570
- eISBN:
- 9780300128253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300100570.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter examines utilitarian and egalitarian approaches to the distribution of scarce life-saving medical resources, or distribution of life. It shows how utilitarianism is able to endorse ...
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This chapter examines utilitarian and egalitarian approaches to the distribution of scarce life-saving medical resources, or distribution of life. It shows how utilitarianism is able to endorse substantial aid to the disabled based on the assumption that disability significantly reduces welfare, which suggests the possibly counterintuitive conclusion that disabled lives are less worth saving, on utilitarian grounds, than are non-disabled lives. In addition, the chapter discusses the views of Peter Singer and other utilitarian bioethicists regarding disabled and non-disabled lives. In their book The Allocation of Health Care Resources, Singer and fellow utilitarian bioethicists John McKie, Jeff Richardson, and Helga Kuhse agrees with the notion that utilitarianism requires health-care allocators to discriminate against disabled people in the distribution of life. For Singer et al., such discrimination, known as “double jeopardy,” is a proper result of the health-care allocation theory that seeks to maximize quality-adjusted life years.Less
This chapter examines utilitarian and egalitarian approaches to the distribution of scarce life-saving medical resources, or distribution of life. It shows how utilitarianism is able to endorse substantial aid to the disabled based on the assumption that disability significantly reduces welfare, which suggests the possibly counterintuitive conclusion that disabled lives are less worth saving, on utilitarian grounds, than are non-disabled lives. In addition, the chapter discusses the views of Peter Singer and other utilitarian bioethicists regarding disabled and non-disabled lives. In their book The Allocation of Health Care Resources, Singer and fellow utilitarian bioethicists John McKie, Jeff Richardson, and Helga Kuhse agrees with the notion that utilitarianism requires health-care allocators to discriminate against disabled people in the distribution of life. For Singer et al., such discrimination, known as “double jeopardy,” is a proper result of the health-care allocation theory that seeks to maximize quality-adjusted life years.
Mark S. Stein
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300100570
- eISBN:
- 9780300128253
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300100570.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Theories of distributive justice are most severely tested in the area of disability. This book argues that utilitarianism performs better than egalitarian theories in this area: whereas ...
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Theories of distributive justice are most severely tested in the area of disability. This book argues that utilitarianism performs better than egalitarian theories in this area: whereas egalitarianism helps the disabled either too little or too much, utilitarianism achieves the proper balance by placing resources where they will do the most good. The book offers what may be the broadest critique of egalitarian theory from a utilitarian perspective. It addresses the work of egalitarian theorists John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, Amartya Sen, Bruce Ackerman, Martha Nussbaum, Norman Daniels, Philippe Van Parijs, and others. It claims that egalitarians are often driven to borrow elements of utilitarianism in order to make their theories at all plausible. The book concludes with an acknowledgment that both utilitarians and egalitarians face problems in the distribution of life-saving medical resources. It advocates a version of utilitarianism that would distribute life-saving resources based on life expectancy, not quality of life. Egalitarian theories, it argues, ignore life expectancy and so are again found wanting.Less
Theories of distributive justice are most severely tested in the area of disability. This book argues that utilitarianism performs better than egalitarian theories in this area: whereas egalitarianism helps the disabled either too little or too much, utilitarianism achieves the proper balance by placing resources where they will do the most good. The book offers what may be the broadest critique of egalitarian theory from a utilitarian perspective. It addresses the work of egalitarian theorists John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, Amartya Sen, Bruce Ackerman, Martha Nussbaum, Norman Daniels, Philippe Van Parijs, and others. It claims that egalitarians are often driven to borrow elements of utilitarianism in order to make their theories at all plausible. The book concludes with an acknowledgment that both utilitarians and egalitarians face problems in the distribution of life-saving medical resources. It advocates a version of utilitarianism that would distribute life-saving resources based on life expectancy, not quality of life. Egalitarian theories, it argues, ignore life expectancy and so are again found wanting.
David A. Wise (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226902869
- eISBN:
- 9780226903217
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226903217.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
This book provides a massive amount of new research on several popular and less-examined topics pertaining to the relationship between economics and aging. Among the many themes explored in this ...
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This book provides a massive amount of new research on several popular and less-examined topics pertaining to the relationship between economics and aging. Among the many themes explored in this volume, considerable attention is given to new research on retirement savings, the cost and efficiency of medical resources, and the predictors of health events. The volume begins with a discussion of the risks and merits of 401(k) plans. Subsequent chapters present recent analysis of the growth of Medicare costs; the different aspects of disability; and the evolution of health, wealth, and living arrangements over the life course. Keeping with the global tradition of previous volumes, the book also includes comparative studies on savings behavior in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States; an examination of household savings among different age groups in Germany; and a chapter devoted to population aging and the plight of widows in India.Less
This book provides a massive amount of new research on several popular and less-examined topics pertaining to the relationship between economics and aging. Among the many themes explored in this volume, considerable attention is given to new research on retirement savings, the cost and efficiency of medical resources, and the predictors of health events. The volume begins with a discussion of the risks and merits of 401(k) plans. Subsequent chapters present recent analysis of the growth of Medicare costs; the different aspects of disability; and the evolution of health, wealth, and living arrangements over the life course. Keeping with the global tradition of previous volumes, the book also includes comparative studies on savings behavior in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States; an examination of household savings among different age groups in Germany; and a chapter devoted to population aging and the plight of widows in India.
Rosamond Rhodes, Margaret Battin, and Anita Silvers (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199744206
- eISBN:
- 9780190267551
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199744206.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Because medicine can preserve life, restore health and maintain the body’s functions, it is widely acknowledged as a basic good that just societies should provide for their members. Yet, there is ...
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Because medicine can preserve life, restore health and maintain the body’s functions, it is widely acknowledged as a basic good that just societies should provide for their members. Yet, there is wide disagreement over the scope and content of what to provide, to whom, how, when, and why. In this book, some of the best-known philosophers, physicians, legal scholars, political scientists, and economists writing on the subject discuss what social justice in medicine should be. The forty-two chapters in this second edition update and expand upon the thirty-four chapters of the first edition. Eighteen chapters from the original volume are revised to address policy changes and challenging issues that have emerged in the intervening decade. Twenty-two chapters are entirely new. The treatment of foundational theory and conceptual issues related to access to health care and rationing medical resources have been expanded to provide a more comprehensive and nuanced discussion of the background concepts that underlie distributive justice debates, with global perspectives on health and well-being added. New additions to the section on health care justice for specific populations include chapters on health care for the chronically ill, soldiers, prisoners, the severely cognitively disabled, and the LGBT population. New chapters address questions of justice related to genetics, medical malpractice, research on human subjects, pandemic and disaster planning, newborn screening, and justice for the brain dead and those with profound neurological injury.Less
Because medicine can preserve life, restore health and maintain the body’s functions, it is widely acknowledged as a basic good that just societies should provide for their members. Yet, there is wide disagreement over the scope and content of what to provide, to whom, how, when, and why. In this book, some of the best-known philosophers, physicians, legal scholars, political scientists, and economists writing on the subject discuss what social justice in medicine should be. The forty-two chapters in this second edition update and expand upon the thirty-four chapters of the first edition. Eighteen chapters from the original volume are revised to address policy changes and challenging issues that have emerged in the intervening decade. Twenty-two chapters are entirely new. The treatment of foundational theory and conceptual issues related to access to health care and rationing medical resources have been expanded to provide a more comprehensive and nuanced discussion of the background concepts that underlie distributive justice debates, with global perspectives on health and well-being added. New additions to the section on health care justice for specific populations include chapters on health care for the chronically ill, soldiers, prisoners, the severely cognitively disabled, and the LGBT population. New chapters address questions of justice related to genetics, medical malpractice, research on human subjects, pandemic and disaster planning, newborn screening, and justice for the brain dead and those with profound neurological injury.
Dan W. Brock
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199744206
- eISBN:
- 9780190267551
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199744206.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter examines whether an individual’s being worse off than others should be a relevant consideration in the allocation of limited medical resources. It reviews arguments pressed by proponents ...
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This chapter examines whether an individual’s being worse off than others should be a relevant consideration in the allocation of limited medical resources. It reviews arguments pressed by proponents of different theories of justice about whether being worse off than others makes special demands on health care resource prioritization. Even if there is good reason to restrict the concern for the worse off to those with worse health in the prioritization and allocation of health care resources, additional issues remain. One is how to determine who has worse health, and whether the worse off are those with the worse overall health or those with the most serious medical condition now in need of treatment. Another issue is whether only individuals’ present health, or instead their lifetime health, including past and expected future health, is relevant.Less
This chapter examines whether an individual’s being worse off than others should be a relevant consideration in the allocation of limited medical resources. It reviews arguments pressed by proponents of different theories of justice about whether being worse off than others makes special demands on health care resource prioritization. Even if there is good reason to restrict the concern for the worse off to those with worse health in the prioritization and allocation of health care resources, additional issues remain. One is how to determine who has worse health, and whether the worse off are those with the worse overall health or those with the most serious medical condition now in need of treatment. Another issue is whether only individuals’ present health, or instead their lifetime health, including past and expected future health, is relevant.
Leslie Pickering Francis and Margaret P. Battin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199744206
- eISBN:
- 9780190267551
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199744206.003.0042
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter examines issues of distributive justice as it pertains to planning for pandemics and disasters. Pandemic plans assume that difficult decisions will need to be made about the allocation ...
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This chapter examines issues of distributive justice as it pertains to planning for pandemics and disasters. Pandemic plans assume that difficult decisions will need to be made about the allocation of scarce resources: vaccines, antimicrobials, hospital beds, and resource-intensive treatments such as ventilators or intensive care units. With the specter of pandemics and disasters such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, vaccine shortage, bird flu, SARS, and H1N1 in mind, the chapter explains how we are simultaneously both victims of disease and vectors of disease. It considers what justice requires in regard to both preparation and response, with particular reference to the question of whether scarce medical resources should be distributed preemptively, especially if they are never used. Yet, when investments in disaster preparedness are not adequately supplied with resources, the cost in lives and suffering can be significant. The chapter concludes by asking whether theoretical differences divide pandemic planning, where diseases can spread from person to person, from disaster planning more generally.Less
This chapter examines issues of distributive justice as it pertains to planning for pandemics and disasters. Pandemic plans assume that difficult decisions will need to be made about the allocation of scarce resources: vaccines, antimicrobials, hospital beds, and resource-intensive treatments such as ventilators or intensive care units. With the specter of pandemics and disasters such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, vaccine shortage, bird flu, SARS, and H1N1 in mind, the chapter explains how we are simultaneously both victims of disease and vectors of disease. It considers what justice requires in regard to both preparation and response, with particular reference to the question of whether scarce medical resources should be distributed preemptively, especially if they are never used. Yet, when investments in disaster preparedness are not adequately supplied with resources, the cost in lives and suffering can be significant. The chapter concludes by asking whether theoretical differences divide pandemic planning, where diseases can spread from person to person, from disaster planning more generally.
