The Economical Aspect p o l i c y
Assisted Suicide is a subject brimming with controversy, open to moral opacity and ethical questions that, conveniently remain unanswered and vehemently opposed by statesmen and legislators alike. As with a very large number of social issues that tend to upend the apple cart, the moral aspect on euthanasia has been widely-documented and seemingly never-ending, as the rest of this policy paper tries to explain in detail. With this in mind, it would be an excellent idea if such moral questions are set aside for a momeny, while the focus is shifted towards the economics behind Euthanasia, both as a microcosm of the current health system in Malta and abroad, as well as a measuring indicator of whether euthanasia does leave an impact of sorts from the monetary side of things. While it helps that such mathematical assertions are less ambiguous, and the question seems to be posed a number of times, multiple assumptions, projections and calculations have to be based and utilized by these predictions. This is due to the fact that the statistics available on a national scale are insufficient, and even foreign literature has tried its hardest to fill in the gaps with presumptions and economic models, rather than cold statistics. To misquote a nefarious political catchphrase: “It’s the economy, stupid.�
64
