Overview

""Luck egalitarianism""--the idea that justice requires correcting disadvantages resulting from brute luck--has gained ground in recent years and is now the main rival to John Rawls's theory of distributive justice. Health, Luck, and Justice is the first attempt to systematically apply luck egalitarianism to the just distribution of health and health care. Challenging Rawlsian approaches to health policy, Shlomi Segall develops an account of just health that is sensitive to considerations of luck and personal responsibility, arguing that people's health and the health care they receive are just only when society works to neutralize the effects of bad luck. Combining philosophical analysis with a discussion of real-life public health issues, Health, Luck, and Justice addresses key questions: What is owed to patients who are in some way responsible for their own medical conditions? Could inequalities in health and life expectancy be just even when they are solely determined by the ""natural lottery"" of genes and other such factors? And is it just to allow political borders to affect the quality of health care and the distribution of health?Is it right, on the one hand, to break up national health care systems in multicultural societies? And, on the other hand, should our obligation to curb disparities in health extend beyond the nation-state? By focusing on the ways health is affected by the moral arbitrariness of luck, Health, Luck, and Justice provides an important new perspective on the ethics of national and international health policy.

Full Product Details

Author:   Shlomi Segall
Publisher:   Princeton University Press
Imprint:   Princeton University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.482kg
ISBN:  

9780691140537

ISBN 10:   0691140537
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   18 October 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Language:   English

Table of Contents

Preface iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Justice, Luck, and Equality 9 I. Rawlsian vs. Luck Egalitarian Justice 10 II. Inequality vs. Equality 14 III. Reasonable Avoidability vs. Responsibility 19 Part I Health Care 27 Chapter 2: Responsibility- Insensitive Health Care 29 I. The Fair Opportunity Account 30 II. Opportunities and Life Plans 34 III. Th e Democratic Equality Account 37 Chapter 3: Ultra- Responsibility- Sensitive Health Care: All- Luck Egalitarianism 45 I. A Test Case: Justifying Medical Treatment for Smoking- Related Diseases 46 II. Some Preliminary Problems with All- Luck Egalitarianism 48 III. What's Wrong with Neutralizing Luck as Such? 51 IV. All- Luck Egalitarianism, Moral Luck, and Desert 54 Chapter 4: Tough Luck? Why Luck Egalitarians Need Not Abandon Reckless Patients 58 I. Luck Egalitarian Attempts to Defl ect the Abandonment Objection 59 II. Value Pluralism 64 III. Three Objections to Luck Egalitarian Value Pluralism 66 IV. A Potential Solution? 68 Chapter 5: Responsibility- Sensitive Universal Health Care 74 I. Meeting Basic Needs 75 II. Health Care as a Public Good 78 III. Some Counter- Objections and Clarifi cations 80 IV. In- Kind Health Care 83 Part II: Health 87 Chapter 6: Why Justice in Health? 89 I. Is Health Care (Still) Special? 89 II. Why a Separate Th eory of Justice in Health? 92 Chapter 7: Luck Egalitarian Justice in Health 98 I. Rawlsian vs. Luck Egalitarian Justice in Health 99 II. Two Problems with Fair Equality of Opportunity for Health 101 III. Health Inequalities between the Sexes Revisited 105 Chapter 8: Equality or Priority in Health? 111 I. The Value of Equality in Health 112 II. Some Potential Objections and Qualifi cations 115 III. Luck Prioritarian Justice in Health 118 Chapter 9: Distributing Human Enhancements 121 I. What Is Human Enhancement? 122 II. The Treatment vs. Enhancement Distinction 124 III. Fair Skin and Other Potential Objections 130 IV. Equality or Priority in Enhancement? 133 Part III: Health without Borders 137 Chapter 10: Devolution of Health Care Services 139 I. The Case for Devolution 141 II. How Devolution Upsets Distributive Justice 143 III. Ignoring Cultural Preferences in Health Care 144 IV. How Devolution Weakens Social Solidarity 148 V. Imposing a Uniform Pattern of Consumption 150 Chapter 11: Global Justice and National Responsibility for Health 153 I. Justice, Responsibility, and Double Standards 155 II. The Health of Nations and the Global Economic Order 158 III. Holding Nations Responsible for Th eir Health 160 IV. National Responsibility and Future Generations 162 V. Equality or Suffi ciency in Global Health? 165 VI. Intergalactic Egalitarianism 168 Conclusion 171 Notes 175 Bibliography 221 Index 235

Reviews

Segall ably defends why she thinks luck egalitarian theory, with important modifications to prevent the total abandonment of patients, provides a better solution for problems in health care allocation than other theories of justice do. This important, thought-provoking book is distinctive in defending the claim that so-called enhancement technologies should be made available to some as a matter of justice. -- Choice This is a thought-provoking volume deserving of a wide readership among academics and health professionals and health policy analysts who must struggle with the challenges of trying to create a more just health care system that gives due regard to issues of personal responsibility for one's own health status and costs that might be imposed on social budgets. -- Leonard M. Fleck, Notre Dame Philosophical Review

Segall ably defends why she thinks luck egalitarian theory, with important modifications to prevent the total abandonment of patients, provides a better solution for problems in health care allocation than other theories of justice do. This important, thought-provoking book is distinctive in defending the claim that so-called enhancement technologies should be made available to some as a matter of justice. -- Choice This is a thought-provoking volume deserving of a wide readership among academics and health professionals and health policy analysts who must struggle with the challenges of trying to create a more just health care system that gives due regard to issues of personal responsibility for one's own health status and costs that might be imposed on social budgets. -- Leonard M. Fleck, Notre Dame Philosophical Review Although I approached the book with a broadly similar ... stance to Segall's, I found the arguments took many unexpected turns, though never in a way so as to leave me lost. Any political philosopher or bioethicist will come away from the book knowing much more about both luck egalitarianism and philosophical approaches to health and healthcare. -- Carl Knight, Iyyun

Segall ably defends why she thinks luck egalitarian theory, with important modifications to prevent the total abandonment of patients, provides a better solution for problems in health care allocation than other theories of justice do. This important, thought-provoking book is distinctive in defending the claim that so-called enhancement technologies should be made available to some as a matter of justice. --Choice This is a thought-provoking volume deserving of a wide readership among academics and health professionals and health policy analysts who must struggle with the challenges of trying to create a more just health care system that gives due regard to issues of personal responsibility for one's own health status and costs that might be imposed on social budgets. --Leonard M. Fleck, Notre Dame Philosophical Review Although I approached the book with a broadly similar ... stance to Segalls, I found the arguments took many unexpected turns, though never in a way so as to leave me lost. Any political philosopher or bioethicist will come away from the book knowing much more about both luck egalitarianism and philosophical approaches to health and healthcare. --Carl Knight, Iyyun [A]mbitious, rich, and challenging... It is bound to provoke much more extensive discussion. --Daniel M. Hausman, Economics and Philosophy Segall's book is an important contribution to the discussion of justice in health care which shows how far theories of justice, especially a luck egalitarian approach can deal with the normative problems we face in this context. But it is also important in showing the limits of theories of justice when we think about the value of health in our overall scheme of good lives and human flourishing. --Michael Quante, Medicine Health Care and Philosophy Segall raises the standard for the burgeoning philosophical discussions on health and social justice and gives us much novel material for further consideration. Graduate students and academics interested in political philosophy and health ethics will find this book interesting and a rich resource. It is clearly written, rigorously argued, and thoroughly engaged with relevant literature. --Sridhar Venkatapuram, Sociology of Health & Illness Whether the ethical solution is (or can be) implemented on the national or transnational, or state or local levels, remains to be seen, but this book is an interesting first step. --Elizabeth Ann Danto, European Legacy His view that luck egalitarians should be concerned only with inequalities is at least plausible. Like many other arguments in this significant contribution to the egalitarian literature, it is certain to spark considerable debate. --Kristi A. Olson, Perspectives on Politics

Segall ably defends why she thinks luck egalitarian theory, with important modifications to prevent the total abandonment of patients, provides a better solution for problems in health care allocation than other theories of justice do. This important, thought-provoking book is distinctive in defending the claim that so-called enhancement technologies should be made available to some as a matter of justice. --Choice This is a thought-provoking volume deserving of a wide readership among academics and health professionals and health policy analysts who must struggle with the challenges of trying to create a more just health care system that gives due regard to issues of personal responsibility for one's own health status and costs that might be imposed on social budgets. --Leonard M. Fleck, Notre Dame Philosophical Review Although I approached the book with a broadly similar ... stance to Segall?s, I found the arguments took many unexpected turns, though never in a way so as to leave me lost. Any political philosopher or bioethicist will come away from the book knowing much more about both luck egalitarianism and philosophical approaches to health and healthcare. --Carl Knight, Iyyun [A]mbitious, rich, and challenging... It is bound to provoke much more extensive discussion. --Daniel M. Hausman, Economics and Philosophy Segall's book is an important contribution to the discussion of justice in health care which shows how far theories of justice, especially a luck egalitarian approach can deal with the normative problems we face in this context. But it is also important in showing the limits of theories of justice when we think about the value of health in our overall scheme of good lives and human flourishing. --Michael Quante, Medicine Health Care and Philosophy Segall raises the standard for the burgeoning philosophical discussions on health and social justice and gives us much novel material for further consideration. Graduate students and academics interested in political philosophy and health ethics will find this book interesting and a rich resource. It is clearly written, rigorously argued, and thoroughly engaged with relevant literature. --Sridhar Venkatapuram, Sociology of Health & Illness Whether the ethical solution is (or can be) implemented on the national or transnational, or state or local levels, remains to be seen, but this book is an interesting first step. --Elizabeth Ann Danto, European Legacy His view that luck egalitarians should be concerned only with inequalities is at least plausible. Like many other arguments in this significant contribution to the egalitarian literature, it is certain to spark considerable debate. --Kristi A. Olson, Perspectives on Politics

Segall ably defends why she thinks luck egalitarian theory, with important modifications to prevent the total abandonment of patients, provides a better solution for problems in health care allocation than other theories of justice do. This important, thought-provoking book is distinctive in defending the claim that so-called enhancement technologies should be made available to some as a matter of justice. Choice

Segall ably defends why she thinks luck egalitarian theory, with important modifications to prevent the total abandonment of patients, provides a better solution for problems in health care allocation than other theories of justice do. This important, thought-provoking book is distinctive in defending the claim that so-called enhancement technologies should be made available to some as a matter of justice. -- Choice This is a thought-provoking volume deserving of a wide readership among academics and health professionals and health policy analysts who must struggle with the challenges of trying to create a more just health care system that gives due regard to issues of personal responsibility for one's own health status and costs that might be imposed on social budgets. --Leonard M. Fleck, Notre Dame Philosophical Review Although I approached the book with a broadly similar ... stance to Segall's, I found the arguments took many unexpected turns, though never in a way so as to leave me lost. Any political philosopher or bioethicist will come away from the book knowing much more about both luck egalitarianism and philosophical approaches to health and healthcare. --Carl Knight, Iyyun [A]mbitious, rich, and challenging... It is bound to provoke much more extensive discussion. --Daniel M. Hausman, Economics and Philosophy Segall's book is an important contribution to the discussion of justice in health care which shows how far theories of justice, especially a luck egalitarian approach can deal with the normative problems we face in this context. But it is also important in showing the limits of theories of justice when we think about the value of health in our overall scheme of good lives and human flourishing. --Michael Quante, Medicine Health Care and Philosophy Segall raises the standard for the burgeoning philosophical discussions on health and social justice and gives us much novel material for further consideration. Graduate students and academics interested in political philosophy and health ethics will find this book interesting and a rich resource. It is clearly written, rigorously argued, and thoroughly engaged with relevant literature. --Sridhar Venkatapuram, Sociology of Health & Illness Whether the ethical solution is (or can be) implemented on the national or transnational, or state or local levels, remains to be seen, but this book is an interesting first step. --Elizabeth Ann Danto, European Legacy His view that luck egalitarians should be concerned only with inequalities is at least plausible. Like many other arguments in this significant contribution to the egalitarian literature, it is certain to spark considerable debate. --Kristi A. Olson, Perspectives on Politics

Author Information

Shlomi Segall is lecturer in the Department of Political Science and the Integrative Program of Philosophy, Economics, and Political Science (PEP) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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