The United States (US) aviation industry provides a potentially useful mental model for dealing with certain cost-benefit decisions in aesthesiology. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the national aviation authority of the United States, quantifies a price for the value of a human life based on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) value of a statistical life (VSL) unit. The current VSL is around 9.6million,indexedtogrowwithconsiderationgiventoinflationandwagechangesfromthe2016baselineof9.4 million [1]. To illustrate the concept, if the FAA estimates that 100 people are likely to die in the future given the current practice standards then the monetary cost of this loss will be 940million.TheFAAusesthisestimatedmonetaryvalueasanofficialreferencepointinitsregulatorydecisions,andtheagencypublishesindetailhowitderivestheestimatedvalue.Whenproposingnewregulations,theFAAbasesitsdecisionsoncomparisonsofthehumanlifecostassociatedwiththeexistingregulationversusthealternativecostthattheindustrystakeholderswillincursubsequenttotheadoptionoftheregulation.Inthisexample,ifthecostincurredbytheindustryismorethanthe940 million cost then the FAA will not adopt the proposed regulation and hence will not require the industry to undertake this cost