Healthcare Funding and Christian Ethics

This book outlines a Christian ethical basis for how decisions about health care funding and priority-setting ought to be made.

Stephen Duckett (Author)

9781009260664, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 January 2023

350 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.65 kg

Healthcare has an impact on everyone, and healthcare funding decisions shape how and what healthcare is provided. In this book, Stephen Duckett outlines a Christian, biblically grounded, ethical basis for how decisions about healthcare funding and priority-setting ought to be made. Taking a cue from the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Duckett articulates three ethical principles drawn from the story:  compassion as a motivator; inclusivity, or social justice as to benefits; and responsible stewardship of the resources required to achieve the goals of treatment and prevention. These are principles, he argues, that should underpin a Christian ethic of healthcare funding. Duckett's book is a must for healthcare professionals and theologians struggling with moral questions about rationing in healthcare. It is also relevant to economists interested in the strengths and weaknesses of the application of their discipline to health policy.

1. Ethics and health economics
2. The call for compassionate action to meet needs
3. The call for social justice in healthcare funding
4. The call to responsible stewardship
5. A Christian ethic of healthcare funding
6. Envoi.

Subject Areas: Welfare economics [KCR], Health economics [KCQ], Religious ethics [HRAM1], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]