The Price of Life

One of the modules I found most interesting during my university days was The Economics of Social Policy. One of the topics we studied was how economists place a value upon human life.

This problem of placing a value on human life and which drugs should be made avaliable is looked at in a BBC 2 program this coming Wednesday.

On a finite budget, the NHS cannot afford to offer every treatment on the market, so how is it decided which medications should be made available?

Award-winning director Adam Wishart follows the nail-biting decision about one drug, with unprecedented access to decision-makers the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the patients who need a life-extending treatment, and the American company that discovered and will profit from it.

Adam Wishart also appeared on Start the Week this morning.