The use of cost-value analysis to judge patients' right to treatment

In deciding patients' right to treatment, there are trade-offs to be made between severity of illness, efficacy of treatment and treatment costs. These trade-offs can be expressed in numerical terms, using a multicategory scale to describe both severity of illness and treatment effect. Given the existence of this methodology, one may hypothesize that patients' right to treatment within specified time-limits can be enforced through formal legislation without necessarily damaging efforts at overall cost containment or imposing unreasonable administrative burdens on the health care system. Practical trials, for instance in selected geographical areas, are probably necessary to determine whether or not this hypothesis is true.