The Problem With Utilitarianism in the Health Domain

A treatment for a patient group of poor health will yield fewer Qualys than one that could bring people back to full health. John Rawls' principle that we should make the worst off as well off as possible can be interpreted in this area, he says. The trouble with doing this is that if you use the Rawls in principle of giving absolute priority to the worst off, you have what has come to be known as the black hole problem. So how do we get out of that? People came up with forms of rural utilitarianism.