Customer Reviews

Just Health Care (Studies in Philosophy and Health Policy)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Daniels' book from 1985 is one of the classic works on the ethics of health care and the distribution of health care. His approach follows in the footsteps of John Rawls and emphasizes the need to take care of the least well off in our society. Increasing medical costs have spawned a number of attempts to rein in medical spending, from the Oregon Health Plan to HMOs to the (at the time of this writing) new Massachusetts health plan. This book lays a good foundation for examining these plans from an ethical standpoint. Amazon links to the table of contents above, and this does provide a clear picture of the breadth of the work.

For readers interested in specific recommendations about health care -- whether heart transplants should be funded, for example -- you will need to look elsewhere. Daniels is very clear that this book is about an ethical framework, and specific recommendations will depend upon how fully implemented that framework is. This was my own frustration with the book. Even so, it is a valuable resource and well worth the read.