Utilitarian Bioethics - Definition and Overview

Utilitarian Bioethics is a very controversial branch of Utilitarian ethics that espouses directing medical resources where they will contribute most to the sum of the number of happy people in the world. It is implicitly used in some healthcare planning decisions, such as the use of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs).

The upsides of Utilitarian Bioethics include reduced suffering and increased medical expediture on other patients.

"Downsides" include: potential justifications for physicians to kill patients, the uncertainty in measuring 'happiness', and the possibility of classification of many disabled or old people as "nonpersons".

• Arguments in favor of forms of Utilitarian Bioethics include:
  • Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, Cambridge Univ Pr (Pap Txt); ISBN 052143971X; 2nd edition (February 1993)
  • Udo Schüklenk, 2001 (http://sunsite.wits.ac.za/bio/intro1.htm)

• Arguments against Utilitarian Bioethics include:
  • Betty Alfred, 1999  (http://www.tell-us-your-story.com/_disc69r/0000000d.htm)
  • Dean R. Koontz, One Door Away from Heaven, Bantam Books; ISBN 0553582755; (October, 2002)