Institute for the Advancement of Health Care Management

Deathbed Rationing: Cruel, Unethical, or Fiscal Necessity?

Speaker:

Glenn McGee, Ph.D.
Director, Alden March Bioethics Institute & Editor in Chief, The American Journal of Bioethics

Thursday, April 19 , 2007
7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

New York State Nurses Association Conference Facility; 11 Cornell Road, Latham, NY

The cost for this program is $10.

Friends of the Institute attend at no cost.

It's often referred to as bedside rationing, and for those who are aging and consuming resources at an increasing rate as they near their dying days, constriction of resources is equally called "deathbed" rationing, to reflect the fact that those who age in our society bear a disproportionate burden in coping with an entire system's malfunctions and lack of resources. As government, consumers, businesses and society continue to grapple with the increased costs of healthcare in the United States, attention often turns to the high cost of care at the end-of-life, and the question of what is the best use of medical technology and funds for end-of-life care. Some would say resources should be allocated to cases with likely favorable outcomes. Others disagree. Can the healthcare system and organizations address end-of-life issues related to resources and ethics? Can individual clinicians? Is rationing a four letter word?