Reiss Annie, Shafran Yigal, Marcus Esther-Lee
Med Law. 2015 Sep;34(1):251-284.
Life and death decisions have always been part of the medical profession. Modem discussions on resource allocation in health care deal with such critical situations, and seek ethical solutions that will benefit individuals and society as well as conserve scarce resources. Deontological ethics and utilitarianism are opposing ethical views, each with its own theory on solving moral dilemmas. Utilitarian logic aims at maximizing the benefit for the greatest number of people, while deontological theories strive to uphold pervasive moral principles. Jewish thought has always confronted the toughest of human predicaments head-on. As we review part of the Jewish discourse on distributive justice throughout the ages, we will show its relevance to modem discussions on medical resource allocation. As in modem secular ethics, Jewish thought juxtaposes the two aforementioned philosophical viewpoints, and constantly attempts to reconcile them. Extracting from each theory its strengths, the ethical conclusions reached in Jewish religious texts are relevant to issues of resource allocation throughout the ages.
生死抉择一直是医疗行业的一部分。现代关于医疗保健资源分配的讨论涉及此类危急情况，并寻求既能使个人和社会受益又能节约稀缺资源的伦理解决方案。道义论伦理学和功利主义是相互对立的伦理观点，各自都有解决道德困境的理论。功利主义逻辑旨在为最多的人实现利益最大化，而道义论理论则努力维护普遍的道德原则。犹太思想一直直面人类最严峻的困境。当我们回顾犹太教历代关于分配正义的部分论述时，我们将展示其与现代关于医疗资源分配讨论的相关性。与现代世俗伦理学一样，犹太思想将上述两种哲学观点并列，并不断试图调和它们。从每种理论中汲取其优势，犹太宗教文本中得出的伦理结论与历代资源分配问题相关。
