Today's news has been all about death. News of the attack that killed 31 people at a resort frequented by Israelis in Sinai was displaced mid-morning by unconfirmed reports of the death of Ken Bigley. A BBC bulletin followed up this story with that of twelve or more Iraqis at a wedding party who were killed by a U.S. bombing raid. Meanwhile, on Five Live, a debate on the case of Charlotte Wyatt was taking place. Someone phoned to point out the socio-economic aspect of this question, that money spent keeping a dying child alive was, in effect, being taken away from some other healthcare area, such as cancer treatment that could save lives.
The idea that money might come into a question of this sort was too much for the presenter to engage with. There was a sort of stony silence before the programme moved on rapidly to more palatable views. But the fellow was right, of course. NHS staff make value judgements every day about the use of their resources. Some sick people die and some live; in principle, resources are directed towards the ones with the best chance.
What distinguishes baby Charlotte and others in her position is thet they have specific, identifiable, named lives. So, whereas health policy makers may condemn one category of patients in favour of another when they make their investment decisions, they have to be much more circumspect when applying these powers in a particular case. When it comes to life, people value the particular over the general every time. So poor Ken Bigley's terrible death is a much bigger deal than those of the father and his seven sons reported to have been killed in the U.S. raid.
Mostly, it comes down to proximity. A named Briton is closer to the BBC audience that a family of unnamed Iraqis. The people killed on 9/11 similarly seem much closer to home than the far greater numbers who have perished in the wars of southern Sudan. It's an understandable attitude, of course, but instead of permitting people to take a careless approach to unnamed lives, it ought to work the other way. If you can get so worked up about the death of somebody with whom you identify, then it's worth remembering that pretty much everyone in the world has got a mother, brother, father or sister - or someone - to get worked up about them, too.
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Posted by: torokilopok | August 26, 2007 at 08:05 AM