Projects

Age-based rationing of health care services in the liberal constitutional state - ethical, economic and institutional aspects * - [German]

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Duration:

Mar 2006 - Mar 2006

Funding body:

Swiss National Science Foundation

Contact:

Breyer, Friedrich (Prof. Dr.)

Department of Economics

University of Konstanz

Universitätsstr. 10

78457 Konstanz

Germany

Phone: +49-(0)7531-88-2568 Fax: +49-(0)7531-88-4135

E-Mail: friedrich.breyer@uni-konstanz.de

Head:

Breyer, Friedrich (Prof. Dr.)

Kliemt, Hartmut (Prof. Dr.)

Member:

Hahn, Susanne (Dr.)

Schultheiss, Carlo (Dr.)

Short Description:

The foreseeable demographic development in connection with the achievements of modern medicine raises the question how to finance publicly all medical services for all patients who could benefit from them. In order to solve this problem it recently has been proposed to allocate certain medical services according to the age of the patients. This proposal started an extensive but almost exclusively anglo-american debate. The purpose of the project is to take up this duscussion and to treat the problem of rationing within a broader framework. To realize this goal one has first of all to clarify the concept of rationing. Further one has to examine the justifiability of age-based rule of rationing taking into account ethical, legal and economical aspects. Finally one has to consider how those rules of allocation of medical services that are proved justifiable can be institutionalized within a liberal constitutional state.

Keywords

delivery of health care – end of life – medical ethics – medical ethos – organ / tissue transplantation – physician-patient relationship – resource allocation – theory of ethics