Bioethics: Finals
Assumption: A just distribution of benefits and
Allocation of Resources
Definition of Terms
 Allocation: refers to the distribution
of available resources.
 Rationing : allocation of scarce
resources
Rationing of Health Resources
 In health care, rationing entails
withholding potentially beneficial
treatments from some individuals
 Who should get what share of
limited health care goods and
services?
 Who should live and who must die?
Macroallocation
 Concerned with what portion of
society’s resource should go to
health care and how this allotment
should be used.
 Decisions made by larger bodies
such as the Congress, health system
agencies, private foundation, and
health insurance companies
Microallocation
 Decisions that focus on deciding
who will be recipient of scarce
resources
 Often involves patient selection
Types of Justice
 Utilitarian Justice
 Egalitarian Justice
Utilitarian Justice
burdens is one that maximizes the net good for
society
Principle of Immediate Usefulness
 Gives priority to the candidate who is
ate greater immediate service to the
larger group under the circumstance
Medical Success Principle
 Gives priority to those which treatment
has highest probability of success.
Principle of Conservation
 Gives priority to those candidates who
require proportionally smaller amount
of resources and therefore more lives
will be saved.
Parental Role Principle
 Gives priority to those who have a
larger priority to the dependents
Principle of General Social Value
 Gives priority to those believed to have
the greatest general social worth thus
leading to the good of the society
Egalitarian Justice
Assumption: Important benefits and burdens of
a society should be distributed equally
Principle of Saving No One
 Gives priority to no one because not all
can be saved
Principle of Medical Neediness
 Gives priority to the one with the most
pressing medical needs
Principle of General Neediness
 Gives priority to the most helpless or
generally neediest in an attempt to
bring them as nearly as possible to a
level of well being equal to that enjoyed
by others.
Principle of Queueing the line

 Gives priority to those who arrived first

Principle of Random Selection

 Gives priority to those selected by

chance or at random