Comments on: I Want to be a Death Panelist http://www.scienceline.org/2009/09/17/blog-levitan-death-panels-health-care/ The Shortest Distance Between You and Science Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:01:23 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anna http://www.scienceline.org/2009/09/17/blog-levitan-death-panels-health-care/comment-page-1/#comment-3381 Anna Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:17:21 +0000 http://scienceline.org/2009/09/17/blog-levitan-death-panels-health-care/#comment-3381 I'm left to wonder just how a persons 'value to society' would be determined in that type of arrangement. How would you decide who is worthy and who isn't? Should we single out everyone over the age of 70, 80 just because they are aged and may not appear to have much left to contribute? Or perhaps we should single out people with disabilities, someone with down's syndrome for instance or Spina Bifida because they will always require those special services and the financial burden which would be considerable? Everyone has differing opinions on what they consider to be valuable in society. If you start making health care decisions based on whether or not you feel someone is worthy of that care, then you leave the door wide open for broad interpretations and things like euthanasia for various groups not deemed fit enough to live. What if that 24 year old you saved, later turned out to be a child murderer. Would you still think that life was worth saving over the 84 year old who still may have had a lot to bring to the community? The problem is, not everyone places the same value on things. And when you have a society based on as much diversity as our own, then the opinions and values we place on one's life and health are just as diverse as the groups we live in. There was a time when persons with mental health issues or intellectual disabilities, for instance, were shunned by society and locked away for their entire lives because we mistakenly believed they were a burden with absolutely no value as a person. We were wrong then, and it would be just as wrong now, not to withhold treatment just because we perceived a person to be less worthy than someone else. Everyone should receive care, regardless of who they are. I’m left to wonder just how a persons ‘value to society’ would be determined in that type of arrangement. How would you decide who is worthy and who isn’t? Should we single out everyone over the age of 70, 80 just because they are aged and may not appear to have much left to contribute? Or perhaps we should single out people with disabilities, someone with down’s syndrome for instance or Spina Bifida because they will always require those special services and the financial burden which would be considerable?

Everyone has differing opinions on what they consider to be valuable in society. If you start making health care decisions based on whether or not you feel someone is worthy of that care, then you leave the door wide open for broad interpretations and things like euthanasia for various groups not deemed fit enough to live.

What if that 24 year old you saved, later turned out to be a child murderer. Would you still think that life was worth saving over the 84 year old who still may have had a lot to bring to the community?

The problem is, not everyone places the same value on things. And when you have a society based on as much diversity as our own, then the opinions and values we place on one’s life and health are just as diverse as the groups we live in.

There was a time when persons with mental health issues or intellectual disabilities, for instance, were shunned by society and locked away for their entire lives because we mistakenly believed they were a burden with absolutely no value as a person. We were wrong then, and it would be just as wrong now, not to withhold treatment just because we perceived a person to be less worthy than someone else.

Everyone should receive care, regardless of who they are.

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