Abstract:
This case draws on controversy triggered by a decision to direct medical care funds for the poor to mothers and young children--rather than expensive, life-saving organ transplant operations. In the wake of the death of Diana Brown, a 43-year-old woman denied a liver transplant, the case puts the reader in the position of an Arizona state legislator under pressure to change policies governing the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS. It describes the political debate on the matter in the spring of 1987, when the legislature decided to approve the recommendation to extend basic health service to pregnant women and to children in the so-called "notch group"--families that earn too much to qualify for AHCCCS automatically, but still earn less than the federal poverty level. The case ends with legislators reconsidering the new policy in the summer of 1987, just after Brown's death. The video exhibit includes excerpts from news coverage of the Diana Brown controversy, including her own dying plea for funds to pay for a liver transplant. In addition, it includes excerpts from a roundtable discussion on the implications of the case. Students will be able to wrestle with classic issues of fairness and cost/benefit thinking in a context of fiscal conservatism, limited public resources, growing (and increasingly costly) medical technology, and diminished state control over medical facilities. Revised May 2009.
Learning Objective:
Students will be able to wrestle with classic issues of fairness and cost/benefit thinking in a context of fiscal conservatism, limited public resources, growing (and increasingly costly) medical technology, and diminished state control over medical facilities.
