Health Care and Utilitarianism

In order to analyze David Eddy's argument, "that the objective of health care is to maximize the health of the population served subject to available resources". Let us first examine John Stuart Mill's ethical theory of Utilitarianism. Mill held two theories on utilitarianism, a normative and a psychological one. Normative views of Mills' include his "principle of utility" which says actions are right if they produce the greatest amount of happiness and pleasure and wrong …

…accept this rule. In the United States we have the "Good Samaritan" law which states should you come upon someone hurt in an accident or otherwise and you have the medical knowledge or skill to help, you must not pass the distressed person by. Virtue ethicists would feel proud that there are still corporate management teams choosing to do the right thing for their fellow man based on feelings of compassion, and responsibilities towards others.