Prioritization not rationing in cancer care

Abstract

Conditions of scarcity impact healthcare services for cancer patients. This is the unpleasant reality for nations, local governments, hospitals, and even individual doctors. This means that medical services judged by objective standards as potentially effective by medical professionals are limited because of financial or access scarcity. With this situation of scarcity as premise, one must raise the ethical question of how to deal with scarcity while respecting fundamental principles of human dignity and human rights. This chapter focuses on the German healthcare context where dignity and rights form the basis and framework for medical ethics. Accordingly, in Germany, rationing medical services for life-threatening diseases has been traditionally and appropriately criticized and prohibited. Granting a situation of scarcity, however, some prioritization becomes increasingly necessary. Thus, there is present need for careful ethical analysis of non-emergency regulatory prioritization principles and protocols. Above all, analysis and conclusions must preserve and foster society’s deepest moral commitments.