Why Bariatric Surgery Should be Given High Priority: An Argument from Law and Morality.

Source

Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, University of Gothenburg, Box 200, 405 30, Göthenburg, Sweden, karl.persson@filosofi.gu.se.

Abstract

In recent years, bariatric surgery has become an increasingly popular treatment of obesity. The amount of resources spent on this kind of surgery has led to a heated debate among health care professionals and the general public, as each procedure costs at minimum $14,500 and thousands of patients undergo surgery every year. So far, no substantial argument for or against giving this treatment a high priority has, however, been presented. In this article, I argue that regardless which moral perspective we consider-greatest need, utility or personal responsibility-the conclusion is that we should give bariatric surgery a high priority when allocating scarce resources in health care.

TimAllenMDJD

Sunday, July 15, 2012