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Previous Volume 336:1668-1671 June 5, 1997 Number 23 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Although many clinicians and health policy makers are comfortable with the notion that some beneficial health care services are simply too expensive to provide, fewer are comfortable using the word "rationing" to describe these compromises. The word is so loaded that some cannot use or hear it without thinking of policies that discriminate against vulnerable population groups. Some policy makers carefully avoid the word, substituting euphemistic phrases such as "emphasizing truly beneficial services." When the word is used in medical contexts, it is usually to discredit an insurance program or a suggested health policy that cuts too close to a . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Thinking beyond the Individual Patient

Appealing to the "Standard of Care"

Displacing Responsibility

Making Do with Less Than the Best

Using the "Best Treatment" Only after Others Fail

Discussion

References

Related Letters:

Rationing by Any Other Name
Love S. M., Tuckfelt M., Nicklin D., Durand A. M., Katz S. J., Asch D. A., Ubel P. A.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1997; 337:1395-1396, Nov 6, 1997. Correspondence

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