LAUSR

In exploring possible justifications for the allocation of resources to patients with DoC, the authors argue that relevant frameworks ought to focus on potential morally important prospective benefits rather than on the patient’s moral status. According to this view, potential benefit alone justifies resource allocation. However, I argue that the authors’ framework imports the notion of moral status and, further, that both moral status and benefit are necessary for such a framework. I then draw upon a Kantian theory of value to offer a hybrid view that grounds the value of the benefit in the moral status of the beneficiary.