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Health Care Resource Allocation: Complicating Ethical Factors at the Macro-allocation Level

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Abstract

It is generally assumed that allocation problems in a socialized health care system result from limited resources and too much demand. Attempts at solutions have therefore centered in increasing efficiency, using evidence-based decision-making and on developing ways of balancing competing demands within the existing resource limitation. This article suggests that some of the difficulties in macro-allocation decision-making may result from the use of conflicting ethical perspectives by decision-makers. It presents evidence from a preliminary Canadian study to this effect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P4, Canada

    Eike-Henner W. Kluge & Kimberley Tomasson

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  1. Eike-Henner W. Kluge
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  2. Kimberley Tomasson
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Kluge, EH.W., Tomasson, K. Health Care Resource Allocation: Complicating Ethical Factors at the Macro-allocation Level. Health Care Analysis 10, 209–220 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016531100046

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016531100046

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