Assignment title: Information


At several points in Being Mortal, Gawande mentions the high costs of providing treatments for conditions that are typically fatal (see pp. 45, 153-54, 178). This subject is also broached in the documentary “Facing Death”; here’s the transcript of the program. Search the page for ‘cost,’******$****** etc. to find these. Both Being Mortal and “Facing Death” describes examples of patients who, having received such costly treatments, do not seem to benefit significantly either in terms of extending their lives or improving its quality. (In fact, Gawande describes instances where, in his estimation, patients were actually harmed by receiving such treatments.) Please use the book as reference. Also can you make it 800 words instead if 750. Provide a reasoned response to these questions: Do patients have a right to receive costly treatments for such illnesses? Are societies morally obligated to provide such treatments even if there is significant evidence that patients often do not benefit from them?