[Attitude of seniors to rationing in health care--before and after a lecture series].
Prior to the first lecture in the public series of lectures entitled "Rationing of Health Care: Are Elderly the Victims?" and before a lecture given to a Senior Citizens Association on the same subject, all participants were polled. The polling was repeated at the end of the lecture series. The initial participation totalled 69 with two-thirds women, average age 64 years (50% were from the health care or social welfare sector), and 57 retired business people (50% women). At the end, there were 45 listeners (average age 65 years), with 30 taking part in both surveys. The majority believed that rationing is already taking place, only 1/6 rejected such measures in principle. When asked, nearly all those surveyed were in favor of quality of life after treatment and life expectancy as criteria for the right to medical services. Personal criteria, such as nationality, social role, self-related causes and calendar age were rejected by the majority, although less clearly by the business people than by the general participants. This rejection became more marked after the lecture series. Those surveyed gave various specific judgements on decisions about the complex allocation of resources and favored decision-making by patients themselves unless they were senile. A large minority were opposed to very elderly patients making decisions themselves, even if they were not senile.


CONCLUSIONS
The elderly persons polled demand that all rationalization measures be exploited before rationing is implemented. Rationing criteria must be of a universal nature and borne by the general public.
Schelling
H R
HR
Psychologisches Institut, Sozialpsychologie I, Universität Zürich.
Wettstein
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006266:Health Education; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013557:Switzerland