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MUST READ QUOTE:

"The death of a teenager is a greater tragedy than the death of an 85-year-old, and this should be reflected in our priorities. We can accommodate that difference by calculating the number of life-years saved, rather than simply the number of lives saved. If a teenager can be expected to live another 70 years, saving her life counts as a gain of 70 life-years, whereas if a person of 85 can be expected to live another 5 years, then saving the 85-year-old will count as a gain of only 5 life-years. That suggests that saving one teenager is equivalent to saving 14 85-year-olds. These are, of course, generic teenagers and generic 85-year-olds. It’s easy to say, “What if the teenager is a violent criminal and the 85-year-old is still working productively?” But just as emergency rooms should leave criminal justice to the courts and treat assailants and victims alike, so decisions about the allocation of health care resources should be kept separate from judgments about the moral character or social value of individuals"

THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE: NOW WE'RE PUTTING PRICES ON WHOSE LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANOTHER//

NEXT WE MAY STOP PUTTING A VALUE ON SOME LIFE// After all, is someone with mental retardation really worth keeping healthy? Is someone with Alzheimer's really worth concern..? Does cancer really warrant a fight? .. the march to eugenics is back and better than ever.. Rationed health care will put price tags on the heads of our sick -- and the illusion so many people believe is that those price tags are moral and ethical..

You may be the next Terry Schiavo ...