[MD] How far do you go to preserve individual life?

[Ian]

Nice try Platt, to sneak death panel propaganda under the guise of a  
serious moral question.

Every organisation engaging in health and safety risks makes this  
decision every minute of every day. Think drilling for oil in the gulf.

As far as health care goes US & UK are identical in nature - ie mixed.  
Basic minimum socialized care limited by tax budgets plus private care  
limited by insurance budgets limited by personal choice and ability to  
pay. The balance is different, the socialized downside is lower in the  
US, but the private upside is identical. Read my lips - identical.

Neither is imune from the difficult decision. Both have to conserve  
budgets as opportunity to spend on alternatives. Only one has to hold  
back  funds for shareholder profit dividends.

Now, what was the question ?
Ian

Sent from my iPhone

On 13 Sep 2010, at 16:35, plattholden at gmail.com wrote:

> All:
>
> In a conversation reported in the Guardian.uk scientists David  
> Attenborough and
> Richard Dawkins were asked, "What is the most difficult ethical  
> dilemma facing
> science today:?
>
> "DA: How far do you go to preserve individual human life?
>
> RD: That's a good one, yes.
>
> DA: I mean, what are we to do with the NHS? How can you put a value  
> in pounds,
> shillings and pence on an individual life? There was a case with a  
> bowel cancer
> drug -- if you gave that drug, which costs several thousand pounds, it
> continued life for six weeks on. How can you make that decision?"
>
> How would the MOQ make that decision? There's no direct answer that  
> I can find
> in Pirsig's writings. I presume that if the patient was of sound  
> mind and, from
> his past history, could potentially offer something of intellectual  
> value
> during the remaining six or so weeks of his life, he should receive  
> the drug.
> Otherwise, the social value of his life would rule which, as the  
> Giant would
> judge, isn't worth a pence. Biologically the poor soul would be best  
> recycled.
>
> What's really horrendous about the question is that in the NHS and now
> potentially in the U.S. such questions are all too real with life  
> and death
> decisions in the hands of a government committee, i.e., a death  
> panel. I don't
> know about you, but the thought of my government determining whether  
> I live or
> die makes me sick. It's as if Joe Stalin was resurrected.
>
> When you surrender such personal decisions to the government, not  
> only is your
> life threatened, but DQ, the creative force of evolution, dies, too.  
> Perhaps,
> the MOQ answer is just that -- take responsibility for your own life  
> so DQ can
> flourish.
>
> The interview is at:
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/11/science-david-attenborough-
> richard-dawkins
>
> Regards,
> Platt
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