Distributive Justice Theories In Health Care

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Distributive Justice and Health Care There are five distributive justice theories: utilitarianism, egalitarianism, libertarianism, deontology, and pluralism (Ledlow and Stephens, 2014, p. 255). Each of these theories can be used to justified distribution of health care resources. Distributive justice works to create a framework for the division of benefits/trials of economic movement (Ledlow and Stephens, 2014, p. 254). The utilitarianism theory wants to provide the most benefits overall; this indicates that a course of action should be taken to please the largest number of people and dissatisfy the least number of people (Ledlow and Stephens, 2014, p. 255). Social and market justice should be balanced in utilitarian (Ledlow and Stephens, 2014, p. 255). An example of this theory in health care would be a millionaire who has thousands of vaccinations for a quickly spreading disease. Even though the millionaire owns the vaccinations, confiscating these vaccinations to give to individuals with the disease is justified. This distribution represents the utilitarian theory because it is providing the most benefit, even if the …show more content…

255). This theory considers social and market justice as a value (Ledlow and Stephens, 2014, p. 255). An example of deontology is a doctor’s family who values their health is top priority. There is a shortage of medical supplies; the doctor loves his family and has an obligation to protect the people she loves. It would be ethically right for the doctor to distribute to her family members, rather than the benefit of all. This examples represents deontology because it focuses on looking at one person and the people she cares about, rather than the overall good like the utilitarian