Evaluating human life using court decisions on damages for pain and suffering

Andrea Leiter, Magdalena Thöni () and Hannes Winner
Additional contact information
Magdalena Thöni: Department for Human and Economic Sciences, University of Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT)

No 2010-11, Working Papers in Economics from University of Salzburg

Abstract: This paper provides a framework to evaluate human life based on court decisions on damages for pain and suffering. Using judgements from Germany and Austria over the last 25 years, we calculate an average Value of Damages for Pain and Suffering (VDPS) of about EUR 1.79 millions, with a minimum (maximum) of around EUR 0.67 (4.62) millions. These values are broadly in line with the ones from previous studies. However, our approach also allows to calculate the value of body parts and body functions, which might be of interest if information on the benefit of an individual’s change in life quality is not (entirely) available (e.g., decisions to provide specific health services).

Keywords: Value of life; quality adjusted life years; value of body parts; tort law; pain and suffering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 J17 K13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2010-08-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Evaluating human life using court decisions on damages for pain and suffering (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:sbgwpe:2010_011

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