title: Health care for the elderly: a social obligation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ageism in the allocation of health care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the ethical bases for rationing health care according to age, and to make appropriate recommendations for nursing policy and practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Published literature.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Limiting access to resources and opportunities for older Americans simply because they are old is clearly a case of ageism. The authors opine that society has an obligation to provide an adequate level of health care to all, rationing on the basis of age is wrong, and nursing policy and practice should support this stance.
authors.affiliation: College of Health Professions, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA. michael.stallard@nau.edu
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Stallard
authors.forename: Ilene M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.forename: Judith Bunnell
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Sellers
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005851:Geriatric Nursing; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D011287:Prejudice; D012935:Social Justice; D014481:United States