The meaning and value of life.
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The wide therapeutic supply which a present is available for diverse disorders, together with a excess of indiscriminate scientific information, occasionally complicates the possibility of acquiring a wide experience in the treatment of certain patients (limited experience). To acquire genuinely useful experience, it is necessary to accumulate simiular experiences from our environment, with it being necessary to precisely define, in an objective manner, concepts which until now are difficult to quantify (risk of mortality or morbidity, survival, quality of life, etc.). The definition of these parameters, shall favor the creation of homogenous groups (isoseverity indices), which is the first step in the evaluation of more complex conceps, such as; quality of life, increase of life expectancy, quality adjusted life years (QALY's), and beneficial application, all of which validated in diverse hospital media. Based on the previous, we would obtain other calculated parameters; the benefit (of the patient), the use (of the procedure), and the efficacy (of the physician or the unit). Once these parameters have been standarized, it shall be possible to compare them with the results published in other media, considered to be standards, with the aim of establishing the corresponding self-evaluation. The evaluation of the cost of each process, is a compulsory procedure, to produce, if possible, based on the previous results, a better distribution of the means without a decrease in the quality of assistance. With the aim of evaluating the results in an objective and quantifiable manner, we have worked these last years on developing assessment applied to the evaluation of predictive and isoseverity indices, such as the cost/benefit evaluation in critical, geriatric, and oncological patients, and in those with artificial nutrition in the home. The fruit of this labor has come together in the production of a computerized information system (SAETA), which builds de previously validated modules into is structure, thus permiting the storage and subsequent multifactoral analysis of the results.
Most studies on the value of statistical life (VOSL) and values for prevention of injuries provide only the average values for the overall population. It is often argued that the values for children may be higher than that for adults because parents are usually more concerned about the mortality and morbidity risks of their children than for themselves. However, it is not an easy task to determine separate VOSLs for children and adults. Only a few empirical results are available and they do not show a definite pattern. Using the results of a value of safety survey carried out in New Zealand in 1997-1998, this paper investigates whether the willingness to pay based VOSL is higher or lower for children. Formal statistical tests were carried out to test the differences and also a regression analysis was carried out to estimate the VOSL separately for adults and children, particularly in households with children. The analysis shows that for the whole sample, the value is higher for children. However, when some outliers were removed the results indicate a higher value for adults than for children. A further trimming shows the value of children is slightly higher. Therefore, no definite conclusion could be drawn. Households without children have the highest VOSL.