Paganelli, Vitale H.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 39 | Number 2 Article 5May 1972Continuing Study of the Right to Health Care: AnIntroductionVitale H. PaganelliFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationPaganelli, Vitale H. (1972) "Continuing Study of the Right to Health Care: An Introduction," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 39: No. 2,Article 5.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol39/iss2/5Continuing Study of the Right To Health Care: An Introduction Vitale H. Paganelli, M.D. In May 1970, The Linacre Quar-terly via the view of Messrs. Buckley, Cohen, Griffin , McCorry, SJ. , with Leithart dissenting, attempted to es-tablish a principle, namely, that the right of an individual to health care was a natural right which flowed immediately from the fundamental right to life and to health, The assumption that this was es-tablished as a principle with suffi-cient clarity in 1970 permits us now in 1972 to inquire into the problems concerned with implementation of this right to health care, The difficulties of implementa-tion are obviously numerous and onerous and give rise to many possi-ble solutions as well as to many possible dangers, These facts are attested to by the flow of verbiage regarding the aforementioned which has spilled forth in print in the inter-vening two years. A wide variety of people including physicians and their respective organizations, insur-ance companies, labor leaders , rep-resentatives of minorities , the Con-gress , health agencies, private foun-dations, big business and even the President and the Pope, have written to the issues involved, I attempted initially to catalogue some of this material but was soon drowning in the deluge of facts, statistics, opinions, arguments, char-74 ges and counter-charges, It seemed to me therefore, that the best one could hope to accomplish in editing this material was to continue to establish and expand a framework of principles from which the dis-cussion and hopefully the solution could proceed rationally in the light of a Christian (integral) humanism. The perspicacious reader will note in this issue that we have not entertained definitive solutions to many of the important problems re-lated to health care provision. Thus, the concrete solutions to the pro-blems of the supply and demand of physicians, paramedical personnel and facilities , etc. , the problems of increasing the concentration of MO's in the areas affected by a shortage of physicians, for example, Vitale H. Paganelli, M.D. Associate Editor Linacre Quarterly Linacre Quarterly ghettos, rural areas, etc. , or the international problems related to marginal or non-existant health care facilities , are not within the purview of this issue. Perhaps a future edition of TLQ will open its pages to con-tributions which suggest a solution to some of these vexing difficulties. Unfortunately the May 1970 issue of TLQ which had probed the initial problem of a right to health care resulted in absolutely no feedback from our readers. One might thus draw the conclusion that either no-body read that issue or that the topic was covered in such an exemplary manner that we pre-empted the possibility of a comment. Lest we ourselves be discouraged by the for-mer or deluded by the latter, let it be noted that in fact we believe that there remains much of importance to be said pro and con both on the issue of a right to health care and on the subject covered in this issue, viz, the need and means of providing such health care. At the time of this writing , how-ever, it is abundantly clear that the medical profession itself has not fully accepted the concept of a right to health care, a concept which in May of 1970 we arbitrarily defined as "the right of the individual per-son to the essential available ele-ments necessary for the mainten-ance of total and stable bodily and mental health , including physical facilities, drugs and appliances, paramedical and medical person-nel". That the rest of the citizens of this nation including its legally elect-ed representatives are well on their May, 1972 way to providing some form of health care under a national health plan is also a fact which is abun-dantly apparent. The three primary practical pro-blems which currently exist in any consideration for the provision of health care are, (1) the immediate supply of professional health care personnel, (2) the economic prob-lems involved underwriting a health care program, and, (3) the autonomy of the profession. It goes without saying that the three problems fre-quently feed back on and overlap one another and therefore are some-what difficult to tease apart and consider individually. A recent at-tempt was made by Dr. Robert M. Sade (confer my concluding re-marks) to isolate the third compo-nent , namely, the autonomy of the physician from everything else. With this background we venture to continue our probe of the problem of health care. Our current issue of TLQ welcomes back Professor Louis Buckley and introduces Father R. McCormick, S.J. (also a Linacre Quarterly consultant), Dr. Borne-meier, Dr. John Millis and Dr. Daniel O'Keeffe . We believe that in keeping with our initial intent to provide a Chris-tian and rational overview of the subject our authors have made a significant and continuing contri-bution toward delineating an ethic which can be held comfortably by the individual physician and by the profession at large. We will be dis-appointed if this issue like our last fails to provoke comment. 75 

Continuing Study of the Right to Health Care: An Introduction

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