The dollar value of a human life

[quikchange]

This BizWeek article about preemies brings up the issue of how much money it is worth spending to save a human life. A popular knee-jerk reaction is to claim that you cannot put a price on the life of a person. It's easy to demonstrate that this is not true. All I need do is point out the large number of people who die every day from causes are

Comments

[enigmaticdan]

I'm confused by this entry. In the first paragraph, you say "A 22 week old foetus in the USA should not have a higher value than an 11 year old child in an impoverished developing country." But then you say people have used utility to determine the value of human lives, and that people have valued non-strangers above strangers. Since, for the most part, people have accepted being peas in pods called countries, why shouldn't the local gonna-be-a-child be worth more than a distant already-a-child?

[quikchange]

Are you implying that national identity is a proxy for familiarity? I.e. American lives are worth more to other Americans than lives of people in other countries? That would explain observations nicely. I wonder if people are willing to admit that they feel that way.

[enigmaticdan]

Yeah, obviously phrasing it in a "You value foreigners' lives less!" way is hard to swallow, but we are instilled with an idea that our membership in a nation unites us with people in a way. It allows us to share in each other's accomplishments, but also means we have obligations to each other. If resources are scarce, then, we use them to help ourselves before we help others

[termdec]

Why would you assume that medical costs were ever reflective of some objective value or complexity? In america, that is. Once the R&D is done, drugs are cheap to manufacture, but with the right marketing plan and a few sick people you can take every cent they have. People who have a preemie are full of hormones giving them an insanely strong biological incentive to keep it alive, so of course everyone is pretty quick to plug the it into the wall at ridiculous expense. It's easy and profitable to advantage of desperate people (especially healthy parents with sick kids). It hints at some of the larger problems, but we're only focused on this because of the shock value of dead babies. that's why people click the link

dead babies! dead babies! omg

[punk_apple]

In too many cases, there is no limit... in spending in miracle or desperate cures when there is realistically no hope in keeping someone alive. Or keeping them alive on a way that is worth human life

[yellowtangfish]

Tony

[quikchange]

Your viewpoint on this is enlightening and very much appreciated. The question in my mind is whether God would like those of us born in rich countries (whose resources allow decisions about continuing care to be made based on quality of life) to share some of our resources with those who were born into relative scarcity.

[yellowtangfish]

I think God very much wants us to help our neighbours in need. And I don't mean only the ones in our own towns. The most enduring commandment Jesus left for us to follow was not pay your tithes, act like a Pharisee or act like the morality police- it was to love your neighbour as yourself.And in doing that, you loved and showed your devotion to Him.

20 Week Limit?

[quikfanclub]

I thought Canada had no restrictions on abortions whatever.
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Canada