RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Why bioethicists have nothing useful to say about health care rationing.
JF Journal of Medical Ethics
JO J Med Ethics
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
SP 288
OP 291
DO 10.1136/jme.21.5.288
VO 21
IS 5
A1 D Seedhouse
YR 1995
UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/21/5/288.abstract
AB Bioethicists are increasingly commenting on health care resource allocation, and sometimes suggest ways to solve various rationing dilemmas ethically. I argue that both because of the assumptions bioethicists make about social reality, and because of the methods of argument they use, they cannot possibly make a useful contribution to the debate. Bioethicists who want to make a practical difference should either approach health care resource allocation as if the matter hinged upon tribal competition (which is essentially what it does), or they should do political philosophy in the traditional sense, and examine the health system from the outside.