Ethics and Policy
An ongoing debate exists as to how much care, if any, patients in a persistent vegetative state should receive in health system plagued by limited resources. In a case before the New Jersey Superior Court, Betancourt v. Trinitas, a community hospital sought a ruling that dialysis and CPR for such a patient constitutes futile care. An American bioethicist, Jacob M. Appel, argued that any money spent treating PVS patients would be better spent on other patients with a higher likelihood of recovery. The patient died naturally prior to a decision in the case, resulting in the court finding the issue moot.
Read more about this topic: Persistent Vegetative State
Famous quotes containing the words ethics and, ethics and/or policy:
“The most powerful lessons about ethics and morality do not come from school discussions or classes in character building. They come from family life where people treat one another with respect, consideration, and love.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“If you take away ideology, you are left with a case by case ethics which in practise ends up as me first, me only, and in rampant greed.”
—Richard Nelson (b. 1950)
“Men must learn now with pity to dispense,
For policy sits above conscience.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)