Prompt # 1
The article on health issues stirs mixed reactions, reflections, and questions. The most prominent question is whether healthcare is indeed a right or a privilege.
Healthcare, according to the Universal Declaration of Human rights by the United Nations, is a fundamental necessity that every individual must be able to access. In almost all countries, the right to life is enshrined in the constitution and actively protected by the laws of the land. If indeed there is a right to live, then healthcare must be a right as well: it cannot be a privilege. According to Wooden (2016), healthcare is the right of every citizen irrespective of their race, age or socioeconomic status. However, the cost of healthcare in the USA makes it more of a privilege than a right. Honestly, if 17% of the population could not afford it by 2011 then what could be more befitting than the word privilege? No, that does not make healthcare a privilege yet. The government has given it considerable attention and is making significant strides toward the attainment of equal healthcare opportunities for all citizens through the Affordable Care Act. So, healthcare is a right, not a privilege.
Prompt #2
Martha Mendoza’s “Between a Woman and her Doctor,” is an article outlining the frustrating ordeal that Martha herself had to go through after the discovery that the fetus in her womb had died and she needed to remove it. The article leaves a lingering question of the role of government policy in doctor-patient decisions.
Government policy plays a grand role in the decisions made by doctors and their patients. The policies influence these decisions both positively and negatively. According to Daniels, Ferguson, Howard, and Roberti (2016), government policy shapes the framework of ethical decision-making. The government protects and safeguards the rights of both the patients and their doctors, ensuring that doctors do not harm the patients. One policy of particular interest is the policy against abortion. Abortion endangers the life of the mother, in addition to terminating that of the fetus. Even the D&E method which is quite safe cannot be performed smoothly because government policy contrabands it. Although most government policies protect the patient, I feel that sometimes there should be room for the patient and the doctor to make decisions on their own.
References
Wooden, C. (2016). Healthcare Is a Right Not a Privilege, Pope Says. Catholic News Service.
http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2016/health-care-is-a-right-not-a-privilege-pope-says.cfm
Daniels, C. R., Ferguson, J., Howard, G., & Roberti, A. (2016). Informed or misinformed consent? Abortion policy in the United States. Journal of health politics, policy and law, 41(2), 181-209.
https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/article-abstract/41/2/181/13810
