Month: January 2025

Health care is something that every person has experience with. Is that enough to make it a fundamental human right?

At various times throughout our lives, we need medical attention. That might come from a broken bone, a common illness, or even something more serious. It might mean visiting a doctor, or perhaps even a stay in the hospital.

In fact, this even predates hospitals. Tens of thousands of years ago, most if not all tribes of hunter gatherers, or early agricultural societies, probably had a shaman or medicine man. These people would fix broken legs, suggest herbs to numb pain or promote healing, and the like.

This universality in the need for medical attention might suggest a human right. Everyone will need some form of health care, regularly and throughout their entire lives. What could be more basic? Besides maybe air to breathe and water to drink?

And yet, that health care is provided by other humans. Doctors, nurses, porters, hospital administrators, technicians, and on and on. It requires drugs that are expensive to develop and produce, and ever-advancing equipment that can do remarkable things.

What happens if someone cannot pay for these goods and services? Should they be denied treatment that may extend their life? Or should they be treated, with the (potentially large) costs being passed on to the rest of us? Or perhaps the medical community should be required to provide these services at reduced or no cost?

Is health care a human right? If so, how do we pay for someone who cannot, themselves, provide payment? If not, how can we justify pain, suffering, and early or unnecessary death for the sake of money?

Related questions: What does it mean to be healthy? How do you stay healthy? What is the sickest you have ever been? Do animals have rights?