Write an essay
discussing social Justice in heathcare distribution.
distributing of healthcare funds amongst the most deserving and in needy
cases. Explain why this is an arduous task.
Practicing adequate
social justice while distribution of healthcare funds amongst the
most deserving and
needy cases, is an arduous task. While distributing these funds, it is
essential to take a
paradigm view of the situation, and then making decisions without
any social or racial
bias. In the given scenario, looking at all the given cases and making
a decision regarding
which patient deserves to be saved;was an eye-opening
experience for me
indeed.
In ones opinion,
patient C deserves to receive the funds. My rationale behind this decision
is pretty logical and
simple. In case of patient A, the fact that the patient is quite old and
has already lived 70
years of his life, makes it hard for me to choose him. The patient
has already exceeded
the average global lifespan (Brockmann, 2002), and investing
one million dollars in
saving his life would leave one regretful for the younger patients in
need of funds. In case
of patient B, the life expectancy of the toddler is only until
teenage; which means
that the funds would not be well-invested here.Now, in case of
patient D, the patient
is going to be completely dependent on the hepatitis drug given to
him. This means that
patient D would be able to live normally only until three years, until
the funds will last.
The expenditure of the hepatitis drug as described in the case is
30,000 dollars per
month. Hence, there is going to be no backup or guarantee for the
hospital to ensure
that it has saved a life successfully in the longer run or not. Now,
lastly, in case of
patient E who is a premature baby, the chances of survival at best are
only 20%. Moreover,
the total sum of the babys 12-month stay is going to exceed the
hospitals currently
available funds. Hence, in case of patient E, the hospital funds will
not be well-invested,
as the survival chances of the baby are meagre. Moreover, the
extra care and
necessary medicines for the premature baby are going to mount to a
bigger sum than a
million dollars.
This leaves one with
patient C who is a mother of two, and needs to undergo a bone
marrow transplant
costing 750,000 dollars. This amount surely falls under the hospitals
budget. Apart from
that, the mother of two also needs post-surgery care which will
amount to roughly
500,000 dollars including the medicines and visits. The hospital can
grant the patient C
the remaining amount i.e. 250,000 dollars to the woman for her
post-surgery care, so
that she can continue to avail the services until the hospital has
the next round of
funds available. The major reason behind my choice of choosing
patient C for the
hospital fund is the fact that in case of successful surgery, one life is
going to be saved for
sure without any doubts. The surgery will allow the woman to lead
a normal life with her
children. Furthermore, the woman may be planning for another
baby soon. This means
that the hospital will become responsible for saving multiple
lives in this case.
While making a
decision, one understood the situation of the hospital administration and
stakeholders, who have
to make routinely decisions regarding saving lives of people.
Moreover, One also
understood the fact that any sort of conflict of interest and biasedness
needs to be avoided
while making such potential decisions. One must put aside caste,
color, and creed
during decision making and policy making in healthcare systems
(Baicker &
Staiger, 2005). Only then, we can claim our healthcare systems to be truly
reliable and
transparent.
