http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/society/should-economists-decide-who-lives/ Economics Blog - current events and economics essays Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:06:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/society/should-economists-decide-who-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-3110 Rajesh. Shinde Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:34:15 +0000 http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/society/should-economists-decide-who-lives/#comment-3110 The perspective used in economic valuation is of paramount importance in deciding the effective allocation of scarce resources. Society, as a whole can contribute but the issue then would be it could be a biased decision on allocation as people, most of them healthy, would fail to understand the specific disease conditions and requirements of patients. Nursing perspective could prove to be of ome value here. If nurses are allowed a say in the matters of allocation of interventions, then such issues could be addressed. Again using the notion of willingness to pay as an outcome measure in the cost benefit analysis could disadvantage the economically weaker sections of the society. The issue of time trade off(TTO), also raises several ethical issues. A patient suffering from a specific condition might attach a lower value onto his life when asked by economists to do so on a scale. The perspective used in economic valuation is of paramount importance in deciding the effective allocation of scarce resources.
Society, as a whole can contribute but the issue then would be it could be a biased decision on allocation as people, most of them healthy, would fail to understand the specific disease conditions and requirements of patients. Nursing perspective could prove to be of ome value here. If nurses are allowed a say in the matters of allocation of interventions, then such issues could be addressed.
Again using the notion of willingness to pay as an outcome measure in the cost benefit analysis could disadvantage the economically weaker sections of the society.
The issue of time trade off(TTO), also raises several ethical issues. A patient suffering from a specific condition might attach a lower value onto his life when asked by economists to do so on a scale.

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