A Fairy-Tale Ending Eludes Separated Twins - New York Times
An extremely large amount of money spent on just two children. These kids will have lifelong medical and social needs and most likely a shortened life expectancy. It just seems like an irrational use of health care resources when so many other children - or even adults - don't have basic adequate care. This is just nuts when you consider that any kind of health care spending is ultimately a public investment.
The obstacle to more rational resource allocation is cultural. And the way the media present these stories as human interest dramas certainly doesn't help the public understand the underlying economics. Our culture values individual life to such an extent that it obstructs rational thinking about when and if we should use medical technology to intervene in the natural course of disease.
05 November 2007
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