A monetary value on each life saved

by Benjamin P. Geisler, MD, MPH

A recent New York Times article on how to value a life drew almost two-hundred heavy-handed comments. It discussed how different governmental agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Department of Transportation (DoT) place a monetary value on each life saved.

In many public policy areas, cost-benefit Analysis (CBA) is being used to assess whether an investment in a particular area is worthwhile. CBA uses an “exchange rate” in which the consequences are monetarized.

The article mentioned the following values: The DoT value each life saved at or around $6 million 2010 USD$; $9.1 million 2010 US$ was the corresponding value of the EPA; and the FDA put a figure of $7.9 million 2010 USD$ (increased from $5 million in 2008 USD$) on each life saved from cancer death caused by cigarettes./.../