Books in the Population-Level Bioethics series

In this volume, leading philosophers, medical doctors, and health economists discuss the evaluation of death and its relevance for global health policy. The authors challenge the current practice of assessing newborn deaths as the worst deaths. The volume also discusses whether stillbirths should be included in our evaluation of deaths, and whether the deaths of young children are worse than that of newborns.

Human beings show a greater inclination to assist persons identified as being at high risk of great harm than to assist persons who will suffer similar harm but are not identified as yet. Does this effect constitute a virtue, or a vice? What explains the effect? What are the implications for policy?

Which inequalities in longevity and health among individuals, groups, and nations are unfair? And what priority should health policy attach to narrowing them? These essays by philosophers, economists, epidemiologists, and physicians attempt to determine how health inequalities should be conceptualized, measured, ranked, and evaluated.