Human Rights Missing from Health Care Debate

Sameer Dossani
Director of Amnesty International's Demand Dignity Campaign
Posted: August 31, 2009 02:30 PM

Human Rights Missing from Health Care Debate


Though Alyce Driver worked three jobs, none of them provided health insurance. Regular teeth cleaning and yearly physicals for her five children were a luxury she could not afford. One day her twelve-year-old son Deamonte complained of a headache. Seven weeks later, Deamonte was dead.

The diagnosis? An abscessed tooth.

While death from tooth decay may have been common in the middle ages, this was 2007.

And while one certainly still hears of such things in some of the more underserved areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America, this was in the capital of the richest country on earth.

Deamonte's story and those of thousands like him who die every year from preventable disease in the United States underscores what's wrong with the current health care debate. We should be concerned -- appalled -- that this can happen in our country. But instead of asking ourselves how to right this wrong, we seem to have let the health care debate become about anything but health care.

This country's founders believed that every human being was endowed with certain inalienable rights -- the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the last century, the global community, led by the efforts of the United States and individuals like Eleanor Roosevelt, spelled those rights out. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including... medical care...."

Health care is a human right. Like freedom from torture and ill treatment, equality before the law, and education, health care is something that all of us are entitled to by virtue of being human.

But one would never know that by following the headlines in today's health care debate. We are preoccupied with questions of cost when it comes to universal coverage, but not when it comes to asking critical questions about an industry that maximizes its profits by denying care. Few are asking the most fundamental question: How can our health care system be overhauled so that it fulfills the human right to health care?

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sameer-dossani/human-rights-missing-from_b_273006.html

in taxes..I don't think taxes would go up that much.

So what the hell happened to love thy neighbor, heal the sick, care for the poor.

I never want a thing to do with christians I hate them and if they are going to heaven I sure as hell don't want to be there where they are.

They are not Christian they are their mental defects, selfishness, narrow sighted, gluttons,loud, igernant, blowhards and ya ever notice how many are f---ng fat as pigs.?

And before someone tries to go after me, I have grown up around them gone to several varieties of evilgelical church. The are all so pious and better kreestians than you are. The smarmy....

:kick:

Poor dental health leads to heart disease and a whole host of serious ailments.

Periondontitis(SP?)-gum disease, can be lethal. Diabetics are especially prone to gum disease.

My sister lost her teeth at the age of 40, she was diabetic. I went with her to her appointments for emotional support. The poor woman went through hell with this condition. She had all of her teeth removed and replaced with dentures. Once she had her dentures fitted and got used to them, she never missed a beat. Her overall health improved immediately. It was also a GIGANTIC wake up call to confront and treat her diabetes. A condition that she was in wicked denial of.

Teeth and dental health can be a sobering indicator of overall health.

Anyone who reads this, please monitor your dental health and see your dentist. Your life could depend on it.

Dental care needs to be part of any Public Health plan if we really want to improve overall health of our population.

Thanks for posting this tragic story. It's a sobering wake up call.

Peace.