Presented September 18, 2014 at Purdue University.
There is much philosophical literature on the duty to rescue. If one can save another who is at risk of losing life or limb at relatively little cost to herself, she is morally obligated to do so. Yet little has been said about the other side of the issue: what moral obligations might potential rescuees have to rescuers? In cases where the need for rescue could have been reasonably avoided, it is intuitive to think that the benefitted agents should have taken certain precautions to reduce the risk of imposing rescue burdens on others. That is, there is a duty to take rescue precautions. I argue that one public policy implication of this duty is that given the clinician's duty to provide emergency medical treatment to all people regardless of ability to pay, some of the uninsured have a moral duty to purchase health insurance. This duty is enforceable and it cannot be escaped by waiving a right to rescue.