As mentioned in seminar, ethics is one branch of philosophy, as is politics. The Five Branches, you will recall, are:
Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics . . . in that order. See how ethics is wedged between the study of knowledge (epistemology) and the study of power (politics). The branches intersect . . . clearly.
According to the Center for Bioethics, deciding who gets what is a central task for medical ethics.
Some questions in the realm of bioethics are:
- Should scarce healthcare resources be divided according to need, or ability to pay, or potential for economic productivity, or some other criteria?
- Should doctors at the bedside be the gatekeepers, or should financial managers or others make the rules from a distance?
- Should people get healthcare whether or not they 'deserve' it - for example should criminals or heavy smokers receive transplants that are currently in shortage?
- Should cosmetic surgery be publicly funded?
- Should healthcare be a right for all, and if so does this demand that people ought not be stopped from obtaining it, or does it mean that taxes ought to pay for it all?
- Should we provide means-tested healthcare?
- Should people be forced to take up health insurance, and if so, at what income level?
Only need to answer two of the above questions.