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Psychopharmacology and the Ethics of Resource Allocation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

David Healy*
Affiliation:
Academic Sub-Department of Psychological Medicine, North Wales Hospital, Denbigh, Clwyd LL16 5SS

Abstract

The introduction of clozapine to current psychiatric practice is considered against a background of potential problems of resource allocation posed by the development of a number of ‘budget-busting’ drugs. It would appear that clinicians may increasingly have to operate within a climate in which the rights of individual patients to expensive treatments will seem to be pitted against the abilities of their communities to afford such treatments. Both clinicians and pharmaceutical companies have roles in the development of such conflicts.

Type
Symposium: The Costs of Drug Treatment for Schizophrenia
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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