Healthcare as a Universal Human Right
The human right to health has been preserved in several legal instruments that are part of the globally acceptable legal standards. The idea that all people regardless of their socioeconomic status, level of education, age, gender or physical abilities must have access to unbiased and high-quality healthcare cannot be ignored (United Nations Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 2000). Although this has been clear for over fifty years now since the inception of important health commissions and organizations, the universality of the human right to health is poorly understood. This paper researches this universality and seeks to explore to what extent the rights to healthcare are universal.
The …show more content…
Some patients who are not fluent in English and cannot afford interpretation or translation services are at risk of misdiagnosis and subsequent mismanagement in healthcare facilities. Poor understanding of the explanation of symptoms and therefore a poor diagnosis results in medical errors and ineffective treatment plans (Savedoff, de Ferranti, Smith, & Fan, 2012). Further, African-Americans are less likely to receive certain kinds of care and procedures such as kidney transplants, revascularizations, and thrombolytic therapies than white Americans with a similar level of disease and symptoms. The U. S. is not the only country who fails its citizens due to discrimination. Discrimination based on race, gender, religion, and physical disability has far-reaching implications, and these issues bring up the problem that healthcare as a universal human right has been massively ignored in the world (Hayden, 2012).
There are several key aspects of the right to healthcare that makes it universal. First, the right of healthcare is associated with the ease of access to medical care and related services such as safe drinking water, safe and healthy food, adequate nutrition and healthy working environment as well as gender equality (Hunt, 2006). In addition, the universal right to healthcare also contains freedoms that allow one to choose to deny medical care, procedures or experiments if he or she does not consent, and to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman treatment or punishment (Leary,
The human right to health has been preserved in several legal instruments that are part of the globally acceptable legal standards. The idea that all people regardless of their socioeconomic status, level of education, age, gender or physical abilities must have access to unbiased and high-quality healthcare cannot be ignored (United Nations Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 2000). Although this has been clear for over fifty years now since the inception of important health commissions and organizations, the universality of the human right to health is poorly understood. This paper researches this universality and seeks to explore to what extent the rights to healthcare are universal.
The …show more content…
Some patients who are not fluent in English and cannot afford interpretation or translation services are at risk of misdiagnosis and subsequent mismanagement in healthcare facilities. Poor understanding of the explanation of symptoms and therefore a poor diagnosis results in medical errors and ineffective treatment plans (Savedoff, de Ferranti, Smith, & Fan, 2012). Further, African-Americans are less likely to receive certain kinds of care and procedures such as kidney transplants, revascularizations, and thrombolytic therapies than white Americans with a similar level of disease and symptoms. The U. S. is not the only country who fails its citizens due to discrimination. Discrimination based on race, gender, religion, and physical disability has far-reaching implications, and these issues bring up the problem that healthcare as a universal human right has been massively ignored in the world (Hayden, 2012).
There are several key aspects of the right to healthcare that makes it universal. First, the right of healthcare is associated with the ease of access to medical care and related services such as safe drinking water, safe and healthy food, adequate nutrition and healthy working environment as well as gender equality (Hunt, 2006). In addition, the universal right to healthcare also contains freedoms that allow one to choose to deny medical care, procedures or experiments if he or she does not consent, and to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman treatment or punishment (Leary,