Ethical Reflection On Measurement And Assessment Of Quality Of Life

Measurement and assessment of quality of life, a useful method, is often used to evaluate the health status of the patients or person. The ultimate goal of health care is to maintain or improve the quality of life of people. Quality of life is an important determinant of a person’s life.Quality of Life(QOL) is the main concern for health care professionals and is becoming an important health outcome indicator. An increasing number of people living with chronic diseases and disabilities called for a way in how we should evaluate outcomes of illnesses. It’s the background in which the measurement and assessment of QOL has produced and developed. The measurement and assessment of QOL has been applied in three domains, that is, the evaluation of the QOL of the general population, clinical treatment setting and the health economics. QOL measuring instruments can be generic or disease specific. Generic instruments have the advantage of being applicable to all persons irrespective of illnesses. Instruments specific to a particular disease, e.g. Heartfailure, are more specific and sensitive.The method of measurement and assessment of QOL is only a descriptive theory, merely focusing on the accurate judgement of the merits or otherwise of QOL, which doesn’t aim to make value judgement and moral justification. It is necessary to examine and evaluate this method from ethical perspective. As a preliminary attempt in this field in China, the following ethical issues are to be identified and analyzed:Cost-utility analysis(CUA) is ethically justifiable or not? Allocation of healthcare resources based on QOL is just or not? Is the standard of QOL compatible with happiness? Does the orientation of the measurement and assessment of QOL result in Ageism? The issue of validity of scale of QOL will be mentioned briefly.