The value of life

[diy_fun_uk]

I'm not sure if any of you watch The Big Questions, however Lord Sumption has got himself into a sticky situation by asserting some life is of less value than others. He gave the example of his life vs those of his children and grandchildren, further asserting his life is worth the least as he is old and only has x years of life left.

Where are you on this? I think assertions such as the above very quickly get jumped all over, with the person making them labelled 'ist.' For example on the tv prog, other panelists and members of the public asserted all life is of equal value whether someone is 80 or 8.

On one level I fully subscribe to this. No one person's life should be considered of greater value than another. However, consider the following scenario:

Covid is running rampant. People across all age groups are dying, albeit the curve is upwards from young to old. You have 1 x covid vaccine dose left. No more doses are coming. It needs to be administered within the next hour before its effectiveness expires. Before you is an 85 year old and a 55 year old. You know nothing of their medical history although on the surface, both appear to be in reasonable health for their respective ages. You haven't been vaccinated either.

Who do you inject?

Lord Sumption tells stage 4 cancer patient her life is ‘less valuable’ | The Independent

 

[IT Minion]

I'm not sure if any of you watch The Big Questions, however Lord Sumption has got himself into a sticky situation by asserting some life is of less value than others. He gave the example of his life vs those of his children and grandchildren, further asserting his life is worth the least as he is old and only has x years of life left.

Where are you on this? I think assertions such as the above very quickly get jumped all over, with the person making them labelled 'ist.' For example on the tv prog, other panelists and members of the public asserted all life is of equal value whether someone is 80 or 8.

On one level I fully subscribe to this. No one person's life should be considered of greater value than another. However, consider the following scenario:

Covid is running rampant. People across all age groups are dying, albeit the curve is upwards from young to old. You have 1 x covid vaccine dose left. No more doses are coming. It needs to be administered within the next hour before its effectiveness expires. Before you is an 85 year old and a 55 year old. You know nothing of their medical history although on the surface, both appear to be in reasonable health for their respective ages. You haven't been vaccinated either.

Who do you inject?

Lord Sumption tells stage 4 cancer patient her life is ‘less valuable’ | The Independent

85. Or at the moment healthcare workers as a ROI matter.

The odds of being hospitalised for Covid-19 at the age of 85 is very high, at 55 it is much lower. Probability of death is similarly skewed.

As a nation we gain the most (reduced deaths, disruption, hospital use) by vaccinating those with the least amount of time to live and the worst outcomes. Which is also true for individuals. That's why it's the opposite of the normal thought excersises as you don't get much room for debate.

Sumptoms point was less agreeable, he was trying to draw a parallel between the 'cost to treat Vs benefit gained' formula that the NHS has to use to decide what treatments they can and can't afford to general life. His example was to try to save money by proactively reducing the cost to the country by abandoning them to die in order to save the economy (TM). To take an equation we use to see what additional resources we dedicate to saving lives to use to sell them.

 

[securespark]

If I was in a life-threatening situation, and there was an opportunity to save a younger family member, I would.

In that situation, I would consider my life worth less than theirs.

 

[Doug99]

Piers Morgan tried to criticise Lord Sumption on Good Morning Britain, but his Lordship was having non of it as the comment regarding 'value' was taken out of context.

And at no time did he suggest a person with cancer is of less value than a healthy person.

Media headlining again!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[IT Minion]

Piers Morgan tried to criticise Lord Sumption on Good Morning Britain, but his Lordship was having non of it as the comment regarding 'value' was taken out of context.

And at no time did he suggest a person with cancer is of less value than a healthy person.

Media headlining again!!!!!!!!!!!

Cancer sufferer: “With all due respect, I am the person who you say their life is not valuable.”

Lord foot-in-mouth:“I didn’t say your life was not valuable, I said it was less valuable.”

Well he did say exactly that, I'm not sure what meaning he meant.

 

[SirGalahad]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...tors-choose-save-25-year-old-Captain-Tom.html

Lol at the Title.

It's another false dichotomy.

 

[transam]

Is the life of a child murderer in prison for the rest of his life worth less or equal to those who have never hurt any one

 

[Notch7]

Is the life of a child murderer in prison for the rest of his life worth less or equal to those who have never hurt any one

Depends whether he has life insurance

 

[^woody^]

We're all animals, and as comrade Napoleon once said "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".