Why Does Poor Deserve Life Support?

663 Words3 Pages
Brad Perry Radler Macroeconomics 9 September 2012 What To Do With Poor People Poverty has been an on-going issue in America for decades. One of the most controversial issues when it comes to poor people is how much help they should receive from the government. Some people believe that they do not deserve anything from the government and others believe that they should be provided with certain necessities in order to survive. The topic being discussed here is whether or not poor people deserve life support if they cannot afford the medical bill. My answer is absolutely not. Those ventilator systems could be used on patients who can actually pay off their medical bills and may actually have a chance of surviving. I personally do not think that it is worth it to use the energy and money to keep someone alive just a short time longer. As cutthroat and cynical as that may seem I do have good reasons for why I think this. It is a natural human instinct to…show more content…
Landsburg makes the argument that economic consideration and compassion is the same thing. He states, “A policy of helping everyone who needs a ventilator is a policy of spending less to help the same class of people in other ways. Accounting for "economic considerations" means—by definition—trying to give people what they'll value the most.” Put simply, economic considerations are the basis of compassion in the sense that they are considerations being made in order to further benefit people by providing them with what they need. This means that if there were a policy made to benefit poor people when it comes to life support then it would directly affect some other accommodation that they are provided with (i.e. there could be less welfare/food stamps etc. provided if certain policies were adopted). I have not done any surveys on this topic but I am fairly certain that poor people would not be willing to give those things up for ventilator

More about Why Does Poor Deserve Life Support?

Open Document