Talk:Quality-adjusted life years

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This article is within the scope of WikiProject Medicine. Please visit the project page for details or ask questions at the doctor's mess. Stub This page has been rated as stub-Class on the quality assessment scale Low This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance assessment scale Philosophy Portal This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Philosophy, which collaborates on articles related to philosophy. To participate, you can edit this article or visit the project page for more details. Stub This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the quality scale. Mid This article has been rated as mid-importance on the importance scale. Philosophy Portal This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Philosophy, which collaborates on articles related to philosophy. To participate, you can edit this article or visit the project page for more details. Stub This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the quality scale. ??? This article has not yet received an importance rating on the importance scale. Additional information: Related task forces (core areas): Ethics

Contents 1 Why Philosophy? 2 Wrong categorization 3 Debate 4 Rosser & Kind Matrix

[edit] Why Philosophy?

What does this have to do with philosophy? I could draw a connection if forced, but...--Chinawhitecotton 07:50, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

QALYs is a concept in medical ethics, part of applied ethics, which is a branch of philosophy. It is also appropriately listed as a medical stub. --Vincej 10:25, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wrong categorization

This article deals with a concept in economics, not medicine or philosophy. Healthcare planners use these to estimate resource allocation. It is rarely used in resolving ethical dilemmas in health care, except on the large-scale planning (economic) level.~~ —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.161.33.142 (talk) 14:02, 4 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Debate

"The meaning and usefulness of QALY is debated." I think we should put an emphasis on QALY, that it is a VERY simple "tool/model" for measuring quality (in life, of health etc). A simple tool can never become extremely complex/sophisticated, it just stays simple and helps trying to compare information - in this case QALY data of different i.e. humans. :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.108.103.172 (talk) 03:14, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rosser & Kind Matrix

I believe QALYs were originally derived from a table which summarised the valuations a group of healthy people gave to various combinations of pain and mobility. Some such states were regarded as "worse than death" and so gained negative values. This reflects the common remark, "I'd rather be dead than in a wheelchair!" which results in the lives of disabled people being valued less by healthcare economists than those of the mobile and pain-free. I think hospital patients and professionals working with disabled people turned out to have similar values. The original work was led by Rachel Rosser, a professor of psychiatry in London, in the 1980s. I can't lay hands on the reference just now. NRPanikker 07:48, 2 October 2007 (UTC)