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The Value of Life at the End of Life: A Critical Assessment of Hope and other Factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Paul T. Menzel
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Extract

“The thing about life is that one day you’ll be dead.” Indeed. But even total and honest acceptance of this brute fact about our relationship to death does not diminish the value we see in short remaining life at the end of life. Few just “give in” and no more fight for life because death is seen as an inherent part of life. They still invest small amounts of additional life with huge value. How high may that value plausibly be? What is the value of a relatively short extension of life when death is inevitably near?

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , Summer 2011 , pp. 215 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2011

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References

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The plausible number of persons whose hope is seen to be maintained varies with different assumptions. (1) One could claim that hope is maintained for all 200 by reasoning as follows. Regard the 80 in group A who receive organs as patients for whom hope is maintained. The other 20 in A move into the lower prognosis group as it becomes clear that they will not be one of those with high prognosis who receive a transplant for that initial reason; by the decision to split the organs 80/20% they still stay eligible and have their hope maintained. Because 20% of the organs are reserved for the 100 in group B, of course, they also have their hope maintained. Thus, all 200 have hope of getting an organ. (2) By focusing on the additional number for whom hope is maintained by a policy of allocating 20% of the organs to B instead of all 100% to A, however, the apparent number is 100. If all 100 in A get an organ, they don't “have their hope maintained” (they get saved), and none in B have their hope maintained by any prospect of getting an organ, but if 20% of organs are reserved for B, all 100 in B there will be able to maintain their hope.Google Scholar
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