Economics and euthanasia.
This paper argues that a cost/benefit-type economic analysis of whether or not to prohibit euthanasia should not be undertaken by health services managers unless ethical issues have been resolved to a particular conclusion. A conclusion on ethical grounds in favour of the prohibition of euthanasia renders the consideration of economic criteria redundant. The case of the German euthanasia programme in the 1930s is used to illustrate the danger of attempting to combine ethical and economic criteria into a single decision rule.
Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham University, UK.
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S
Heasell
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D
Paton
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005065:Euthanasia; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D026712:Value of Life