The purpose of this work is to show the importance of ethical consistency and its
application in the decision-making process when allocating health care resources with
respect to the Canada Health Act. Based on the specific decisions in its history and the
development of its principles, I suggest that the Act can be interpreted as indicating a
particular moral basis and that this could have an influence on how resources are
allocated. I will focus on three claims supporting the argument that services can be
delivered in a consistent and methodical manner that respects this particular moral
foundation. First, the outcomes of decisions justified by simultaneous use of logically
incompatible and distinct moral theories are problematic. I suggest that an approach to
reasoning that uses one type of moral theory throughout the decision-making process
results in less ambiguous outcomes. Second, based on key points in the history of the
Canada Health Act, I believe there is a moral theory, deontological in nature, and that it
captures the spirit behind the Act's development and current formulation. Third,
decision-makers in Canada should follow one deontological theory when allocating
health care resources to avoid inconsistencies, and to work within the moral framework
of the Act as I have interpreted it. A delivery system that consistently follows this
procedure may have different outcomes than the current methods of macro-allocation,
and these differences may have effects on the amount and availability of health care
services.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/703 |
| Date | 10 April 2008 |
| Creators | Tomasson, Kimberley. |
| Contributors | Kluge, Eike-Henner W. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Detected Language | English |
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