The Value of a Statistical Life for Out-of- Hospital Cardiac Arrest Victims

Background: Economic evaluation of policies regarding out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is important and we estimate the value of a statistical life (VSL) for OHCA victims. Method: Responses to a national Swedish mail survey in 2007, based on the stated-preference technique (contingent valuation) to directly elicit individuals‟ hypothetical willingness to pay for a reduced risk of dying from OHCA. Results: VSL values are found to be higher than for comparable VSL estimates from the transport sector. A lower-bound estimate of VSL for OHCA would be around SEK 20-30 million. Conclusions: The results in this paper indicates that it is not an overestimation to use the „baseline‟ VSL value from the transport sector (SEK 22 million) in cost-benefit analysis of OHCA policy decisions. We do not support a „senior death discount‟ for this cause of death. 1 Corresponding address: [email protected] Örebro University, Swedish Business School, SE – 702 82 Örebro, Sweden Tel: +46 (0) 31-786 52 49