Healthcare Funding and Christian Ethics

by Stephen Duckett

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009260664
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/26/2023
Series:	New Studies in Christian Ethics
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Stephen Duckett is affiliated with the Religion and Social Policy Network, University of Divinity and is an honorary professor in the School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. An Australian health economist, with a career that spans academic and senior management and policy roles in health care in Australia and Canada, he is a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Table of Contents

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.