engleski

The Challenge to the Health Care System: Ethical Principles and Solutions.

In William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” Juliet describes old people as “unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead”. Lead is symbolic of the burden of material existence which increases with age, as in another Shakespeare’s description of old age as “leaden age” (Venus and Adonis, 34). The Communication from the European Commission of 5 December 2001 - The future of health care and care for the elderly: guaranteeing accessibility, quality and financial viability is acknowledging that all national health care systems are today faced with three major challenges, as the population of Europe is ageing, health care is increasingly effective but also becoming more expensive, and patients, having become true consumers, are also more demanding. The Communication identifies three long-term objectives for national systems, which should be pursued in parallel when it comes to healthcare and care for the elderly: accessibility, quality and financial viability. It seems that in European Commission’s communication there is a lot of concern about how to avoid old age to become “leaden age”. This contribution aims to look into the principles proposed by the Commission in its communication and see what the rationale behind their selection is. We will also try to see, whether more than 10 years ago, and with an economic crisis in Europe, these principles proposed are still valid. In the analysis possible alternative principles will also be discussed. Special attention will be placed on the discussion of the principle solidarity when it comes to discussions on healthcare of the elderly. The aim of the contribution is to see how we can try to avoid healthcare for the elderly being look upon as a burden to healthcare systems.

aging; ethical challenges; healthcare systems

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