The following quote and questions are drawn from Leonard Lewin’s “Ethical Aptitude Test.”
As with other goods and services, the medical care available to the rich is superior to that available to the poor. The difference is most conspicuous in the application of new and expensive lifesaving techniques.
a. Is ability to pay an acceptable way to allocate such services? Explain.
b. If not, how should such services be apportioned?
c. Many lifesaving drugs can be tested effectively only on human beings. But often subjects are exposed to such dangers that only those who feel they have nothing to lose willingly participate. Are there any circumstances in which it would be right to conduct such tests without ensuring that the persons tested clearly understood the risks they were taking? Explain.
d. How much in dollars is the average human life worth?