The Veil of Ignorance and Solidarity in Healthcare: Finding Compassion in the Original Position

Article Sidebar

PDF Full text
Published: Mar 14, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.43.2015.717
Keywords:
veil of ignorance, solidarity, healthcare system, justice as fairness, John Rawls

Main Article Content

Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz
Jagiellonian University Medical College

Abstract

In this paper I will juxtapose the concept of the veil of ignorance – a fundamental premise of Rawlsian justice as fairness – and solidarity in the context of the organisation of a healthcare system. My hypothesis is that the veil of ignorance could be considered a rhetorical tool that supports compassion solidarity. In the concept of the veil of ignorance, I will find some crucial features of compassion solidarity within the Rawlsian concept of “reciprocity” (actually, not being reciprocity at all) – located between “impartiality” and “mutual advantage”. I conclude that, even behind this “thick” veil, some essential, yet “particular” facts on health and wealth redistribution are available to decision makers. Lastly, I discover that by means of the assumption of self-interest in the original position the veil aims to convert egoism into empathy, thus invoking the solidarity of compassion that in turn could be translated into principles of the organisation of a healthcare system.

Article Details

How to Cite
“The Veil of Ignorance and Solidarity in Healthcare: Finding Compassion in the Original Position”. 2015. Diametros, no. 43 (March): 79-95. https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.43.2015.717.
Issue
No. 43 (2015)
Section
Special Topic - Solidarity and Justice in Health Care

By submitting his/her work to the Editorial Board, the author accepts, upon having his/her text recommended for publication, that Diametros applies the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license to the works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees. Anyone may read, download, copy, print, distribute or reuse these articles without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as the author and original source are properly cited. The author holds the copyright without any other restrictions. Full information about CC-BY: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Author Biography

Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz, Jagiellonian University Medical College

Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz
Health Policy and Management Department
Faculty of Health Science
Jagiellonian University Medical College
ul. Grzegórzecka 20
31-531 Kraków
Poland

Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz is a teaching assistant at Health Policy and Management Department of the
Faculty of Health Science at the
Jagiellonian University Medical College. He is also a
PhD student at the Faculty of International and Political Studies at the Jagiellonian University.

How to Cite

“The Veil of Ignorance and Solidarity in Healthcare: Finding Compassion in the Original Position”. 2015. Diametros, no. 43 (March): 79-95. https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.43.2015.717.
Share |
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Daniels [1985] – N. Daniels, Just Health Care, Cambridge University Press, New York 1985.

Daniels [1990] – N. Daniels, “Equality of What: Welfare, Resources, or Capabilities?” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (50) 1990, p. 273–296.

Daniels [1990a] – N. Daniels, Am I My Parents’ Keeper? An Essay on Justice Between the Young and the Old, Oxford University Press, New York 1990.

Daniels [2001] – N. Daniels, “Justice, Health, and Healthcare,” American Journal of Bioethics 1 (2) 2001, p. 2–16.

Davis et al. [1996] – M.H. Davis, L. Conklin, A. Smith, C. Luce, “Effect of Perspective Taking on the Cognitive Representation of Persons: a Merging of Self and Other,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70 (4) 1996, p. 713–726.

Dworkin [1981] – R. Dworkin, “What is Equality? Part 2: Equality of Resources,” Philosophy & Public Affairs 10 (4) 1981, p. 283–345.

Epstein [2000] – R. Epstein, Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Right to Health Care? Basic Books, Cambridge, MA 2000.

Ghandi [2004] – R. Saikia (ed.), Learning from Gandhi, TERI Press, New Delhi, IN 2004.

Gibbard [1991] – A. Gibbard, “Constructing Justice,” Philosophy and Public Affairs (20) 1991, p. 264–279.

Harsanyi [1953] – J.C. Harsanyi, “Cardinal Utility in Welfare Economics and in the Theory of Risk-Taking,” The Journal of Political Economy 61 (5) 1953, p. 434–435.

Häyry [2005] – M. Häyry, “Precaution and Solidarity,” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 14 (2) 2005, p. 199–206.

Hodges and Klein [2001] – S.D. Hodges, K.J. Klein, “Regulating the Costs of Empathy: The Price of Being Human”, Journal of Socio-Economics (30) 2001, p. 437–452.

Houtepen and Meulen [2000] – R. Houtepen, R. ter Meulen, “New Types of Solidarity in the European Welfare State,” Health Care Analysis 8 (4) 2000, p. 329–340.

Jaeggi [2010] – R. Jaeggi, “Solidarity and Indifference,” [in:] R. ter Meulen, W. Arts, R. Muffels (eds.), Solidarity in Health and Social Care in Europe, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht 2010, p. 287–308.

Kant [1929] – I. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, translated by Norman Kemp Smith, Palgrave Macmillan, London 1929.

Korobkin [1998] – R. Korobkin, “Determining Health Care Rights from Behind a Veil of Ignorance,” University of Illinois Law Review (3) 1998, p. 801–836.

Meulen [2015] – R. ter Meulen, “Solidarity and Justice in Health Care. A Critical Analysis of their Relationship,” Diametros (43) 2015, p. 1–20.

Prainsack and Buyx [2011] – B. Prainsack, A. Buyx, Solidarity: Reflections on an Emerging Concept in Bioethics, Nuffield Council on Bioethics 2011.

Rawls [1996] – J. Rawls, Political Liberalism, Columbia University Press, New York 1996.

Rawls [1999] – J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1999.

Roemer [2002] – J.E. Roemer, “Egalitarianism Against the Veil of Ignorance,” The Journal of Philosophy 99 (4) 2002, p. 167–184.

Rorty [1991] – R. Rorty, Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers, Cambridge University Press, New York 1991.

Sandel [1982] – M.J. Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, Cambridge University Press, New York 1982.

Sibley [1953] – W.M. Sibley, “The Rational versus the Reasonable,” Philosophical Review (26) 1953, p. 554–560.

Singer et al. [1995] – P. Singer, J. McKie, H. Kuhse, J. Richardson, “Double Jeopardy and the Use of QALYs in Health Care Allocation,” Journal of Medical Ethics 21 (3) 1995, p. 144–150.

Soto [2012] – C. Soto, “The Veil of Ignorance and Health Resource Allocation,” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 37 (4) 2012, p. 387–404.

Swope et al. [2008] – K. Swope, J. Cadigan, P. Schmitt, R. Shupp, “Social Position and Distributive Justice: Experimental Evidence,” Southern Economic Journal 74 (3) 2008, p. 811–818.