The QALY argument: a physician's and a philosopher's view.
The arguments used by Gavin Mooney in his scornful response to Castigating QALYs, are examined. In spite of the rhetoric there is a broad measure of agreement about the deficiencies of QALYs as a means of distributing scarce resources. The main area of conflict is that John Rawles favours compaigning for more resources while Gavin Mooney, constrained by his remit as a health economist, favours acceptance of the present level of funding and better methods of distributing resources.
Rawles
J
J
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Aberdeen.
Rawles
K
K
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004467:Economics; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D018579:Patient Selection; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D010820:Physicians; D040841:Resource Allocation; D026712:Value of Life