Sunday, August 30, 2009

Quality Adjusted Life Years and Sen. Kennedy

If Senator Ted Kennedy was under a health plan that Obama's Health-Rationer-in-Chief helped design, (I know, fat chance, right?) it is highly unlikely he would have received the "costly operation and painful follow-up treatments in the face of his own terminal diagnosis." Dr. Rahm Emanuel contributes to an article titled Principals for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions in the January 31, 2009 edition of The Lancet which states: "When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated." See the nice graph on this on p. 5 of the article. This allocation system is based on Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALY) which is also addressed in the article. Don't think this is ageism because it further states: "Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years."

While you are at it, check out this article in the New York Times titled Why We Must Ration Healthcare by Peter Singer, professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Looks like Ted Kennedy would not have fared well with this fellow either.

So , all you old people, don't complain if you get less care, you apparently got yours when you were 25.

1 comment:

  1. Good post, which I appreciate more and more as I approach the demographic that will most affected by OvomitCare.

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