scholarly journals The perceived deservingness of COVID-19 healthcare in the Netherlands: a conjoint experiment on priority access to intensive care and vaccination

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Reeskens ◽  
Femke Roosma ◽  
Evelien Wanders

Abstract Background Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, governments, health experts, and ethicists have proposed guidelines about ICU triage and priority access to a vaccine. To increase political legitimacy and accountability, public support is important. This study examines what criteria beyond medical need are deemed important to be perceived of priority COVID-19 healthcare access. Method Two conjoint experiments about priority over ICU treatment and early COVID-19 vaccination were implemented in a probability-based sample of 1461 respondents representative of the Netherlands. Respondents were asked who should receive treatment out of two fictitious healthcare claimants that differed in in age, weight, complying with corona policy measures, and occupation, all randomly assigned. Average marginal coefficient effects are estimated to assess the relative importance of the attributes; attributes were interacted with relevant respondent characteristics to find whether consensus exists in this relative ranking. Results The Dutch penalize those not complying with coronavirus policy measures, and the obese, but prioritize those employed in ‘crucial’ sectors. For these conditions, there is consensus among the population. For age, young people are prioritized for ICU treatment, while the middle-aged are given priority over a vaccine, with younger respondents favoring healthcare for elderly claimants, while older respondents favor support for young cohorts. Conclusion People who have no control over their social risk and are able to reciprocate to society are considered as more deserving of priority of COVID-19 healthcare. Our findings provide fair support for the implemented ethical guidelines about ICU-treatment and COVID-19 vaccines.

2021 ◽  
pp. 189-195
Author(s):  
Tim Reeskens ◽  
Quita Muis

AbstractThe worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has granted national governments far-reaching political powers to implement drastic non-pharmaceutical interventions to curtail the spread of the virus. For these measures to be effective, governments should be granted widespread political legitimacy. This is established when populations’ expectations from governments are in line with public support for these governments. In this chapter, we investigate changes in political legitimacy during the coronavirus crisis in the Netherlands. Amidst of the pandemic, we collected unique, representative data among LISS-panel respondents that supplemented the European Values Study 2017. We demonstrate that the Dutch public (temporarily) lowered their democratic aspirations thereby longing for strong leadership while simultaneously increasing their trust in the incumbent Government, which, combined, resulted in more political legitimacy. Because of an outspoken period effect, expectations are, however, that this legitimacy will not be long-lived in the new common.


2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Dirk Vlasblom ◽  
Joop Schippers

There is a strong effect of childbirth on female labour supply.This effect, however, is changing over time.This article uses panel data on the last two decades on three European countries (the Netherlands, Germany, the UK) to study changes in female labour force behaviour around childbirth and tries to find an explanation for these changes by looking at differences between the three countries.We conclude that there are substantial differences in participation patterns between the three countries in our study and that policy measures and institutions such as childcare that make the costs of combining work and family lower relative to being a full-time mother seem to increase female participation rates.


2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSÉ MIGUEL CRUZ

AbstractWhat is the political impact of police corruption and abuse? From the literature, we know that police misconduct destroys people's confidence in police forces and hampers public collaboration with the criminal-justice system; but, what about the political regime, especially in countries striving for democratic governance? Does police wrongdoing affect the legitimacy of the overall regime? Focusing on Central America, this article provides empirical evidence showing that corruption and abuse perpetrated by police officers erode public support for the political order. Results indicate that, under some circumstances, police transgressions can have a greater impact on the legitimacy of the political system than crime or insecurity. They also show that police misconduct not only affects democratising regimes, such as El Salvador and Guatemala, but also consolidated democracies, such as Costa Rica.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-277
Author(s):  
Silvia Rossetti ◽  
Susanne Heeger

The growth of solo self-employed workers in the Netherlands (zzp’ers) has not yet triggered a debate on how to combine their income security and business autonomy. The extent to which the social protection system and interest groups promote zzp’ers to take up collective arrangements mitigating income insecurity due to work incapacity and preventing income insecurity due to poor employability is investigated using the social risk management framework. Correcting economic obstacles and irrational risk perceptions, collective arrangements are found to encourage the take-up of work incapacity insurance and training among zzp’ers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinghua Gao ◽  
Pengfei Zhang

Background: China is generally regarded internationally as an “authoritarian” state. Traditional definitions have assigned many negative connotations surrounding the term of authoritarian. We realize that it might not be considered value-neutral in other countries. But authoritarian in the Chinese context emphasizes more on centralized decision making, collectivism, coordinating all activities of the nation, and public support, which is considered a value-neutral term. Therefore, it is adopted in this paper. We would like to clarify this. Authoritarian governance is considered an important mechanism for developing China's economy and solving social problems. The COVID-19 crisis is no exception. Most of the current research on crisis management and government crises focuses on advanced, democratic countries. However, the consequences of crisis management by authoritarian governments have not been fully appreciated. Although prior research has addressed authoritarian initiatives to manage crises in China, authoritarian interventions have rarely been theorized in public health emergencies.Methods: Based on a literature review and theoretical analysis, we use a descriptive and qualitative approach to assess public health policies and mechanisms from an authoritarian perspective in China. In light of the key events and intervention measures of China's government in response to COVID-19, the strategic practices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to construct, embody, or set political goals through authoritarian intervention in public health crisis management are discussed.Results: China's government responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a comprehensive authoritarian intervention, notably by establishing a top-down leadership mechanism, implementing a resolute lockdown, rapidly establishing square cabin hospitals, enhancing cooperation between different government departments, mobilizing a wide range of volunteer resources, enforcing the use of health codes, imposing mandatory quarantine on those returning from abroad, and implementing city-wide nucleic acid testing. These measures ensured that China was able to contain the outbreak quickly and reflect on the unique role of the Chinese authoritarian system in responding to public health crises.Conclusions: Our paper contributes to expanding the existing understanding of the relationship between crisis management and authoritarian system. China's response to COVID-19 exemplifies the unique strengths of authoritarian institutions in public health crisis management, which is a helpful and practical tool to further enhance the CPC's political legitimacy. As a socialist model of crisis management with Chinese characteristics, it may offer desirable experiences and lessons for other countries still ravaged by the epidemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 1305-1321
Author(s):  
Jörgen Larsson ◽  
Simon Matti ◽  
Jonas Nässén

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-207
Author(s):  
Pauline G.M. Aarten ◽  
Jean-Louis van Gelder ◽  
Willemijn Lamet ◽  
Matthias J. Borgers ◽  
Peter H. van der Laan

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-165
Author(s):  
Marcel Verweij ◽  
Suzanne van de Vathorst ◽  
Maartje Schermer ◽  
Dick Willems ◽  
Martine de Vries

Abstract At the height of the COVID-19 crisis in the Netherlands a shortness of intensive care beds was looming. Dutch professional medical organizations asked a group of ethicists for assistance in drafting guidelines and criteria for selection of patients for intensive care (IC) treatment in case of absolute scarcity, when medical selection criteria would no longer suffice. This article describes the Dutch context, the process of drafting the advice and reflects on the role of ethicists and lessons learned. We argue that timely interaction between clinical and ethical expertise is necessary since the distinction between medical and non-medical considerations is not as clearcut as sometimes assumed. Furthermore, pragmatic considerations related to the specifics of an epidemic are of importance, for example, in relation to prioritizing health care workers. As a consequence, any protocol already present before the pandemic would need alterations to fit the current situation. The ‘fair innings’ criterion we proposed, rephrased as an argument of intergenerational solidarity, was considered reasonable by professionals as well as patient organizations. While it is desirable to draft ethical guidelines in ‘peacetime’ as a matter of pandemic preparedness, the pressure of an actual crisis facilitates decision-making, although it will also complicate a more democratic approach.


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