Rationing, responsibility and blameworthiness: an ethical evaluation of responsibility-sensitive policies for healthcare rationing

Abstract

Several ethicists have defended the use of responsibility-based criteria in healthcare rationing. Yet in this article we outline two challenges to the implementation of responsibility-based healthcare rationing policies. These two challenges are, namely, that responsibility for past behavior can diminish as an agent changes, and that blame can come apart from responsibility. These challenges suggest that it is more difficult to hold someone responsible for health related actions than proponents of responsibility-sensitive healthcare policies suggest. We close by discussing public health policies that could function as an alternative to contentious, responsibility-sensitive rationing policies.

Keywords

Healthcare ethics, Responsibility-based criteria, Healthcare rationing, Healthcare policy

Link to Publisher Version (URL)

10.1353/ken.2021.0004

This document is currently not available here.

Find in your library

Share

COinS