Allocating limited health care resources – the tragedy of patient relations with the mass media

The allocation of limited resources for social welfare purposes, including health care, may be distorted by publicity in the mass media. Acting on behalf of a personified welfare customer, the results of the media coverage may instead be distortions in the distribution of resources. An actual case and stylized examples are used to indicate that the willingness to pay for health care depends on the distance between customer and decision-maker. The role of the mass media in serious medical treatment decisions is then discussed.