Kaplan BUSINESS AB290 - As mentioned in seminar

Discussion question

As mentioned in seminar, ethics is one branch of philosophy, as is politics. The Five Branches, you will recall, are:

Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics . . . in that order. See how ethics is wedged between the study of knowledge (epistemology) and the study of power (politics). The branches intersect . . . clearly.

According to the Center for Bioethics, deciding who gets what is a central task for medical ethics.

Some questions in the realm of bioethics are:

1. Should scarce healthcare resources be divided according to need, or ability to pay, or potential for economic productivity, or some other criteria?
2. Should doctors at the bedside be the gatekeepers, or should financial managers or others make the rules from a distance?
3. Should people get healthcare whether or not they 'deserve' it – for example should criminals or heavy smokers receive transplants that are currently in shortage?
4. Should cosmetic surgery be publicly funded?
5. Should healthcare be a right for all, and if so does this demand that people ought not be stopped from obtaining it, or does it mean that taxes ought to pay for it all?
6. Should we provide means-tested healthcare?
7. Should people be forced to take up health insurance, and if so, at what income level?

Only need to answer two of the above questions.