Tough topic, but an important and relevant one

Peter Singer makes some interesting points in this article in today's NYTimes. It can appear cold at times--specifically when talking about how economists "value" human life--but these are the tough questions that need to brought up:

You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?

There is a song that comes to mind - the Rolling Stones' "You can't always get what you want". Especially when what you want won't save your life and will come at the expense of saving someone else's life.