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Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care pp 135–160Cite as

Reflections on the Notion of ‘Quality of Life’

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Part of the book series: European Studies in Philosophy of Medicine 1 ((ESPM,volume 47))

Abstract

The notion of “quality of life” is very much in the air these days. The reflections that follow consider it from the medical point of view (“health-related quality of life”: HQL). Let me offer an example. Concerning the treatment of chronic diseases it is no longer enough to prove that a new therapy is effective and non-toxic; it has to be proved that in the case of efficacy and toxicity comparable to those of standard treatment, the new treatment gives the patient an improved quality of life. Thus, for instance, arterial hypertension (AHT) can easily be controlled by a variety of drugs that have little toxicity at effective dosage levels but have side-effects (nightmares, diminished sexual capacity, depression) which are often so difficult to bear as to cause the abandonment of treatment. During the past ten years, great effort has been devoted — with the aid of the pharmaceutical industry — to attempt to ascertain what therapies offer a technically satisfactory treatment of AHT without involving a deterioration in quality of life [see, e.g., 11].

Original publication: Fagot-Largeault, A. (1991), ‘Réflexions sur la notion de qualité de la vie’, Archives de philosophic du droits, Volume ‘Droit et science’, 36: 135–153. English translation by Malcolm Forbes.

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Authors
  1. Anne Fagot-Largeault
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Lennart Nordenfelt

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Fagot-Largeault, A. (1994). Reflections on the Notion of ‘Quality of Life’. In: Nordenfelt, L. (eds) Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care. European Studies in Philosophy of Medicine 1, vol 47. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8344-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8344-2_9

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  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4398-6

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