Allocating Limited Resources

Paper Summary:

This paper explores various methods for allocating limited resources, particularly with regard to limited medical resources and more specifically, human organs. The various methods looked at include distribution based on such things as greatest need, odds for success and the social worth of the individual. The supply side of transplantable organs and the pros and cons of incorporating market forces into the procurement and distribution of organs are also discussed.

From the Paper:

"John Stuart Mill makes the claim that the distribution of wealth is "a matter of human institution solely," because even what a person produces himself, he cannot keep unless human institutions protect his right to keep it from those who would steal it from him (133-134). One might assume that utilitarians such as Mill would naturally prefer an egalitarian approach to allocating resources because of the law of diminishing returns, which simply put is that the more one has, the less enjoyment he gets from getting even more. Therefore a more equal distribution would increase the happiness of society as a whole (Shaw 108). A Rawlsian view might also lead one to an egalitarian approach as people, choosing their fate behind a veil of ignorance, would prefer to "maximize the minimum" that they would receive by choosing a society that shares things equally (Shaw 117)."

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