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Too many are living too long : Comments
By Brian Holden, published 28/5/2010We all hope to remain vigorous into our 80s but if serious malfunctions occur then nature is saying it's time to leave.
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Supposing my child had a serious illness. Supposing further there existed a drug that had a 50% chance of prolonging my child's life by one year.
Unfortunately the cost of one course of treatment with that drug was $10 billon – which is more than the entire budget of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This is not a result of price gouging by a mean drug company. This reflects the actual cost of manufacturing this drug.
I would think it a bargain. If I had $10 billion I would willingly spend it on a 50% shot at giving my child an extra year of life.
But I don't have $10 billion. Would you seriously expect the Australian taxpayers to stump up the money?
Of course not. I would be told that was impossible.
On the other hand if the cost of treatment was $1 it becomes a no brainer.
So somewhere between $1 and $10 billion lies the maximum we would be prepared to spend per patient to give them a shot at an extra year of life. Unless healthcare reformers are prepared to discuss these sorts of numbers – it need not be the same for every class of patient – we shall get nowhere.
Resources are not infinite. Money devoted to very expensive treatments is not available for primary health care, the creation of jobs or better education.
Yes I agree that there are many built in inefficiencies. We could get more "bang for our healthcare buck" and that would alleviate the problems.
But, in the end, we have to decide what is cost effective and how much we are prepared to spend. Emotive arguments about "death camps" etc won't cut it.
Richie10 asks why I need the approval of society to kill myself.
If I start dementing then, absent positive euthanasia, I shall have to kill myself early on in the process.I cannot take the chance of losing my wits so rapidly that I lose the ability to form the intention.
The absence of positive euthanasia may thus end up depriving me of years of life.