Responsibility in health care: a liberal egalitarian approach

Journal of Medical Ethics 31 (8):476-480 (2005)
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Abstract

Lifestyle diseases constitute an increasing proportion of health problems and this trend is likely to continue. A better understanding of the responsibility argument is important for the assessment of policies aimed at meeting this challenge. Holding individuals accountable for their choices in the context of health care is, however, controversial. There are powerful arguments both for and against such policies. In this article the main arguments for and the traditional arguments against the use of individual responsibility as a criterion for the distribution of scarce health resources will be briefly outlined. It is argued that one of the most prominent contemporary normative traditions, liberal egalitarianism, presents a way of holding individuals accountable for their choices that avoids most of the problems pointed out by the critics. The aim of the article is to propose a plausible interpretation of liberal egalitarianism with respect to responsibility and health care and assess it against reasonable counter-arguments

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Citations of this work

Luck Egalitarianism.Carl Knight - 2013 - Philosophy Compass 8 (10):924-934.
Personal responsibility within health policy: unethical and ineffective.Phoebe Friesen - 2017 - Journal of Medical Ethics Recent Issues 44 (1):53-58.
Solidarity and Responsibility in Health Care.Ben Davies & Julian Savulescu - 2019 - Public Health Ethics 12 (2):133-144.

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References found in this work

Inequality Reexamined.Amartya Sen - 1927 - Oxford University Press UK.
What is equality? Part 2: Equality of resources.Ronald Dworkin - 1981 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 10 (4):283 - 345.
Equality and equal opportunity for welfare.Richard J. Arneson - 1989 - Philosophical Studies 56 (1):77 - 93.

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