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Justice between age groups: an objection to the prudential lifespan approach
1School of Medicine, Department of Bioethics & Humanities, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195–7120, USA. nsjecker@uw.edu
The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB
|July 19, 2013
Summary
Societal aging presents ethical dilemmas in healthcare allocation. This study critiques age-based rationing, arguing against the prudential life span account and proposing a new approach to ensure equitable healthcare distribution.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Public Health Policy
- Social Justice
Background:
- Societal aging necessitates ethical considerations for healthcare distribution between age groups.
- The prudential life span account is a dominant framework in debates on age-group justice in healthcare.
- Existing critiques of the prudential life span account have not fully addressed disability concerns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel objection to the prudential life span account for age-based healthcare rationing.
- To analyze the implications of disability critiques for age-group justice in healthcare allocation.
- To propose an alternative ethical framework for distributing healthcare resources between age groups.
Main Methods:
- Philosophical analysis of social contract theories and disability critiques.
- Ethical evaluation of the prudential life span account for healthcare rationing.
- Development of an alternative ethical model for intergenerational healthcare justice.
Main Results:
- The prudential life span account is found to be inadequately supported when considering disability critiques.
- Age-based rationing, as proposed by the prudential life span approach, is not ethically justifiable.
- The prudential life span approach is deemed suboptimal for allocating healthcare between age groups.
Conclusions:
- A new objection, derived from disability critiques, undermines the prudential life span account for age-based healthcare rationing.
- The prudential life span account is not the most effective framework for addressing justice in healthcare allocation between age groups.
- An alternative ethical approach is proposed to overcome disability objections and improve healthcare distribution between generations.
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