Quality assurance

Further information: Quality assurance

The primary purpose of quality assurance (QA) in healthcare is to ensure that the quality of patient care is in accordance with established guidelines. The government usually plays a significant role in providing structured guidance for treating a particular disease or ailment. However, protocols for treatment can also be worked out at individual healthcare institutions like hospitals and HMOs. In some cases, quality assurance is seen as a superfluous endeavor, as many healthcare-based QA organizations, like QARC, are publicly funded at the hands of taxpayers.^[23]However, many people would agree that healthcare quality assurance, particularly in the areas cancer treatment and disease control are necessary components to the vitality of any legitimate healthcare system. With respect to quality assurance in cancer treatment scenarios, theQuality Assurance Review Center(QARC) is just one example of a QA facility that seeks "to improve the standards of care" for patients "by improving the quality of clinical trials medicine."^[23]

Birth and death Reproductive rights

Further information: Abortion

People who wish to have a child want it to be born healthy. Parents do not want their child to be born with diseaseslikeDown SyndromeorCerebral Palsy. In fact,obstetricianshave the mostmedical malpracticelawsuits filed against them. As a result, they have to pay the highest premiums for malpractice insurance. These high costs become a hindrance not only to the doctors, but also to the healthcare industry as a whole. And although patients and their families have the right to confront a physician regarding the quality of treatment received, there ought to be clearly defined legal and financial limits for how far they can go.

The ecophilosophyofGarrett Hardinconstitutes one perspective from which to view the reproductive rights of human beings. For the most part, Hardin argues that it is immoral to have large families, especially since it does a disservice to society in the sense that there is only a finite number of resources in the world. In an essay entitledThe Tragedy of the Commons, Hardin states,

To couple the concept of freedomto breed with the belief that everyone born has an equal right to the commons is to lock the world into a tragic course of action.^[24]

This statement essentially summarizes Hardin's major point concerning the negligible right of all human beings to procreate.

As for healthcare philosophy, Hardin's ecophilosophical views may seem like a stretch. Nevertheless, they are important to keep in mind, especially when considering the call for healthcare as a universal birth right of all people. The increasing strains placed on healthcare systems are primarily the result of a growing human population. One way of mitigating healthcare costs is to moderate population growth. The fewer people there are to take care of, the less expensive healthcare will become. And to apply this logicto what medical ethicist Leonard J. Weber previously suggested, less expensive healthcare does not necessarily mean poorer quality healthcare.^[10]