3 ms·
First world European countries use a quality-of-life-year or disability-adjusted life-year metric. If resource X will give patient A an expected 20 years of lif
by pw0ncakes 17y ago
First world European countries use a quality-of-life-year or disability-adjusted life-year metric. If resource X will give patient A an expected 20 years of life as a vegetable (Q = 0.1) vs. patient B 10 fully-healthy years (Q = 1), patient B gets it. The goal is to maximize total life-years. Obviously, these numbers are estimates, the quality multiplier is subjective, and the optimization problem is very difficult, but the goal is fair and noble, and I think most people would agree with it. When I'm 90, if we haven't made any anti-aging progress, I would want the 20-year-old to get the heart transplant instead of me.
- dhyasama 17y agoI would want myself to want the 20-year-old to get the transplant instead of me. Whether or not I would make that decision while lying on my death bed is another matter.
- pw0ncakes 17y agoAssuming no anti-aging progress, me being 90 implies that I've got 15 years left of life, tops... and most likely 2-4 given that I've just had a transplant. I'd be willing to give that up in order for someone else to live, as long as I can die a decent death. I believe that there are benefits to doing the right thing, both in the here and the hereafter. It'd be a harder decision if I was 50 and had children who depended on me, and if the 20-year-old didn't have good odds anyway (or had done something incredibly stupid). Then I might be tempted to do make the "selfish" decision if it were mine to make. But not if I am 90 and decrepit.