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Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism judges an action by its results. The right choice is the one that does the most good for the most people.

Updated 12 October 2026 (1 minute read)

Summary

  • It is associated with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
  • It underlies much of public health and resource allocation, such as vaccination programmes and decisions about which treatments to fund.
  • Its weakness is that it can justify harming one person for the benefit of many.

Interview questions

  • What is utilitarianism?
  • Should a vaccine be compulsory if it protects the whole population?
  • Would it be right to let one patient die in order to save five?

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Cases that turn on it

Synnovis NHS cyber attack Autonomy In June 2024 criminals locked the computer systems of the lab that runs blood tests for two of London's biggest hospital trusts. More than 10,000 appointments were postponed, and a long wait for a blood test result contributed to one patient's death. Resident doctor strikes Beneficence Doctors in training in England first went on strike over pay in March 2023. By the time they accepted a deal, by 53% to 47%, the argument was as much about a shortage of jobs.

More NHS hot topics, medical ethics case studies and medical school interview questions are in AlphaMED Resources, which we add to and update through the application cycle.