Justice, care &^limits of health care

Abstract

This thesis examines the challenge of health care rationing. It discusses multiple sets of ethical frameworks and their suggested strategies to questions of health care rationing. Based on a discussion of utilitarianism and egalitarianism, a couple of unsolved rationing problems will be identified. Thereafter, an alternative needs-based approach based on an account of care ethics will be presented and evaluated. This thesis tries to make an assessment about the feasibility and meaningfulness of care ethics as a normative approach to health care rationing. It will be argued that the moral and political theory of care ethics proves to be difficult to apply to problems and questions of health care rationing since care ethics, as a needs-based philosophy, has a difficult time in denying care to individuals, that includes medical care. However, care ethics does present some meaningful insights which suggests that care-based moral reasoning can function as middle ground between utilitarian and egalitarian approaches to health care rationing.