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Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by teamonkey on Thursday January 18, 2024 @01:52PM (#39045944)
Literally, yes. On the NHS, they will exhaust cheaper solutions that have a fair probability of working before trying more expensive ones. Age, long term prognosis, whether they have dependents, and some other factors are also considered.
Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by Traubenfuchs on Thursday January 18, 2024 @03:24PM (#39047153)
> dependants

You mean ones life is valued more if one has children?

Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by dekhn on Thursday January 18, 2024 @04:59PM (#39048414)
There's an entire subfield dedicated to calculating life values for making difficult decisions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life

I don't recall seeing having children as a variable in that valuation, it's typically more about how many years of work you continue to do, cast back into current dollars ("present value lifetime earnings", see https://escholarship.org/content/qt82d0550k/qt82d0550k.pdf?t...) and normalized for base rates.

Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by teamonkey on Thursday January 18, 2024 @03:50PM (#39047494)
If you have young children that depend on you, yes.
Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by copperx on Thursday January 18, 2024 @05:51PM (#39049035)
Do they look up records? Is this ethical? Does this also happen in the US or other countries?
Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by teamonkey on Friday January 19, 2024 @04:34AM (#39053472)
It’s the UK, they have the medical history. They also ask the patient about their situation.

And I made it sound mechanical, but AI has not taken over all decisions like this yet. I believe it’s a discussion between a team of doctors where they are considering the humanity and ethics of the situation as well as the cost. Like, what would be the impact on the child/dependent if the parent was to die, do they have another parent or family members they can live with, can they fend for themselves, etc.

Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by BobaFloutist on Thursday January 18, 2024 @05:30PM (#39048794)
I mean, yeah. Of course it is.
Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by copperx on Thursday January 18, 2024 @05:54PM (#39049074)
No, I wouldn't say a life with dependents has more value. However, I do think it should be prioritized over those without dependents.

But that has nothing to do with inherent value.

Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by BobaFloutist on Friday January 19, 2024 @01:44PM (#39059326)
But I'm not talking about inherent value, I'm talking about the calculations that go into health care. The life of a person raising children should absolutely be valued higher than that of one who isn't. And I want to be clear, I don't have children, and I don't plan to, so this isn't selfishly motivated, it's just common sense to me.
Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by Traubenfuchs on Friday January 19, 2024 @04:46AM (#39053535)
More children mean a bigger climate footprint. Also, some children will be net negative on the tax and societal side (violent criminals that will never be gainfully employed). So it's not black and white. And I at least pay more taxes than a family of 3, assuming all of them are, for example, "just" store clerks.

So, what I want to say is, assuming we follow this value of life calculation, I am more valuable than this whole family of three.

Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by BobaFloutist on Friday January 19, 2024 @01:46PM (#39059354)
Ok, but the children already exist. Do you think if their parents are allowed to die they will become less of a tax burden?

This isn't an argument about whether or not we should incentivize couples to have children (we absolutely should, in my opinion), but whether parents of young children should be prioritized for life saving treatment. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think the additional value of not leaving children parentless is worth including in the calculation.

Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by Slamidan on Friday January 19, 2024 @02:18PM (#39059769)
Nope, people aren't equal. More children in Africa is a bigger climate footprint as they are unlikely to develop next stage energy technologies which will transform how civilization functions, in fact if high iq people do not breed, the low iq will take over.

So really your take is self defeating, but much of the progressive lefts antinatalism is which calls into question their entire agenda.

Re:New cancer drug kinder than chemotherapy by Traubenfuchs on Saturday January 20, 2024 @06:08AM (#39066425)
I take offense being called part of the progressive left. I just really hate children and would personally rip the blinatumomab backpack out of the hands of one if I needed it.