The ‘Rule of Rescue’ in Medical Priority Setting: Ethical Plausibilities and Implausibilities

Rationality, Markets and Morals

Studies at the Intersection of Philosophy and Economics

Rationality, Markets, and Morals: RMM Band 0 (2009), 421 – 430

The ‘Rule of Rescue’ in Medical Priority Setting: Ethical Plausibilities and Implausibilities

Abstract

Not infrequently, the so-called Rule of Rescue gets invoked as an allegedly self-evident constraint to the CBE-goal of maximizing health benefit with a given health budget. In this paper this constraint is critically analyzed. It will be argued that some of its implications are worth considering – but not the inherently vague Rule as such.

Volume: Rationality, Markets, and Morals: RMM Band 0 (2009)

Journal Information

RMM is an interdisciplinary publication focusing on issues of rationality, market mechanisms, and the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects. It provides a forum for dialogue between philosophy, economics, and related disciplines, encouraging critical reflection on the foundations and implications of economic processes.