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British Medical Bulletin 51:831-841 (1995)
© 1995 The British Council

research-article

The ethics of rationing

A Weale

Department of Government, University of Essex Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK

Abstract

Ratinoing can occur at three levels of health care choice: the individual, the institutional and the social, with each level posing its own ethical problems. The institutional level is the focus of this paper. The principle of effectiveness may seen attractive, since it promises to ease the institutional dilemmas of rationing, but it is not straightforward to implement in the face of uncertainty. Greater efficiency also promises much, but concepts of benefit are contested and improving contractual performance has complications. Fairness can be a powerful criterion, but there are contested cases, for example age, where its meaning is unclear. Democratic responsiveness, for all its difficulties, is important to maintain in whatever process of rationing is chosen and this can be done by adopting some procedural devices.


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This article has been cited by other articles:


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[Abstract] [PDF]


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