Michael Stingl's sensitive paper links two
debates now dominating contemporary Western societies:
the debate on euthanasia and the debate on healthcare reform.
The link is important for both practical and theoretical
reasons. Given the rise of national expenditures for healthcare,
most governments have a strong interest in cost containment.
In various countries we see reduced accessibility to healthcare
services and facilities, albeit for different reasons.
Sometimes healthcare is largely a matter of private insurance,
as in the United States; sometimes shifts are made toward
rising financial copayments for the use of particular services,
as seems to be the case in Canada and in many European
countries; sometimes accessibility is reduced by waiting
lists, characteristic of systems with socialized medicine
such as in Britain and the Netherlands.