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Obstacles to Developing and Using Technology: The Case of the Artificial Heart

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

James H. Maxwell ,
David Blumenthal  and
Harvey M. Sapolsky
James H. Maxwell
Affiliation:
M.I.T.
David Blumenthal
Affiliation:
Harvard University
Harvey M. Sapolsky
Affiliation:
M.I.T.
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Extract

For some observers, the artificial heart represents the latest, and perhaps the most flagrant example of the health system's tendency to favor the rapid introduction of expensive but ineffective technologies over efforts to prevent disease and to improve access to care (5;6;19;44;45). Even if it can be perfected, they argue, its opportunity cost in terms of other foregone health benefits would be exorbitant. The ultimate failing of the health care system, it would seem, is its failure to establish mechanisms to select among alternative uses of resources. If such mechanisms had existed, some critics believe that the quest for an artificial heart never would have begun and certainly its premature clinical uses could have been prevented (6;45).

Type
Special Section: Transplantation and Artificial Organs
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , July 1986 , pp. 411 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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