User:Icha2663/sandbox

Allocation of scarce medical resources

"The decision of how much a society should spend on research on orphan diseases represents a moral dilemma [How much would be considered “enough” for research on orphan diseases in order to overcome this dilemma?]. On the other hand, each orphan disease only represents a small number of individuals within the legal and political remits of a particular society [What are the orphan diseases that are represented by the small number? How many individuals does “small” mean?]. Investing substantial amounts of resources for rare conditions could be considered unethical from a utilitarian point of view [Does this mean that it will only be ethical if little or no amount was spent on research for rare conditions? Regardless of what it means, it seems to suggest that it is wrong to devote scarce medical resources to rare conditions rather than investing significant amounts of resources to find treatment for each individual orphan disease.], as it is not maximizing society’s benefits [what’s the evidence for this claim? How do you know that investing substantial amounts of resources won’t maximize society’s benefits? What if research helps find treatment for rare conditions and benefits society as a whole?], and its opportunity cost in terms of benefits foregone for others are important."(p. 164-165).