A new approach to evaluate human life based on court decisions on damages for pain and suffering. Similar to previous approaches of evaluating human life, the Value of Statistical Life (VSL) or Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs), the value of damages for pain and suffering (VDPS) basically refers to a change in utility due to a change in health quality. While most VSL and QALY studies rely on risk perceptions of individuals to compute such compensations, the VDPS uses decisions of judges to derive these values. Using data from about 1,100 German and Austrian court decisions on damages for pain and suffering over the years 1980 to 2004 we calculate an average VDPS of around EUR 1.79 millions (the minimum is EUR 0.67 millions, and the maximum is EUR 4.62 millions), which is within the range of the estimates reported in comparable VSL studies from Germany and Austria. However, the major difference between the VDPS and previous VSL studies to evaluate human life is that it does not only provide information on the value of a whole human life or life quality, but also on the (monetary) value of body parts and body functions, which, in turn, might be important if information on the 18 benefits of changes in life quality due to marginal improvements in health and medical technology is scarce or not entirely known. Finally, we demonstrate that the VDPS might be also interesting in the context of QALYs, which need personal judgments or market observations to provide monetary values of improvements in health quality. The VDPS is based on the same conceptual background, but directly provides monetary values of changes in health status. This, in turn, allows to monetize QALYs ex post without having ex ante information on how improvements in health quality are perceived by the individuals. Water and wealth, both in film and in reality, showed how a multimillion-dollar company took advantage of a town in which citizens were under educated and obtained a low income. They did this knowing they could be easily silenced if a scandal like this took place. These residents did not have the money or knowledge to fight against a big company such as P&E. In the movie there was a scene when Erin was talking to one of the residents and she went on to explain how PG&E paid for doctor visits to certain doctors that would tell her that their symptoms were unrelated to one another. Due to lack of money this was the only way these residents could get treated. They had no money to hire lawyers or doctors of their own. This is a simple case of big business taking advantage of underprivileged citizens.

1. Define QALY. How does this economic term relate to the Erin Brokovich case (how is this process used in this case?)

2. Do you feel QALY's are a good way to determine how much one's life is worth? Why or why not?

3. How do we determine who gets care? Utilize terms outlined in this chapter's powerpoint.

4. We rely instead on the expert opinion of individual physicians. When the residents of Hinkley went to a PG &E employed doctor, they were misled to save money. Should we focus on cost or care?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 QALY stands for Quality Adjusted Life Year Its an economic term used in healthcare to measure the value of medical interventions or treatments Essentially it combines both the quantity and quality o... View the full answer