Healthcare and human rights: a reflection.
Healthcare and human rights: a reflection.
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DOI：
10.1038/s41390-021-01486-7
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发表时间：
2022-03
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and the Advocacy Committee of the Society for Pediatric Research
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brunelli L;Brumberg HL;Fernández Y García E;Mukhopadhyay S;Shah SI;Soranno DE;Tremblay ES;Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and the Advocacy Committee of the Society for Pediatric Research
The approximately one million physicians in the United States today practice medicine in a system where only part of society, particularly the wealthy, has access to healthcare services. Individual providers may feel little-to-no sway over these structural barriers. How can we address these inequalities? Are we ready to claim the moral high ground that all people deserve healthcare, or do we instead fall victim to prevailing injustices? When utilized for the common good, the influence physicians have in society can foster positive change. To be a force for good, modern-day physicians need to be willing to acknowledge past errors and abuses of the medical profession. They also need to realize that excellence in the medical sciences does not protect against losing moral authority. At the turn of the twentieth century, German physicians were leaders of the medical profession across the globe for their scientific rigor and clinical acumen. In his poignant book “Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning”, the historian Timothy Snider reminds us of one of the lesser known tragedies of that era: in Nazi Germany, physicians joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) with greater frequency than any other profession. The revelation that the Tuskegee syphilis study (1932–1972) involved withholding treatment from black men with syphilis to observe the natural history of the untreated disease marked one of the darkest moments for the medical sciences. 3 Recently, the ethicist Harriet Washington in her book “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” lists gruesome tales of abuse that resulted in medical accolades for the physicians who perpetrated such abuse.Inequity and racism have been longstanding in our society. The past few years have witnessed a resurgence of reports pointing to these issues. Recent scientific literature suggests that inequity and racism might even be prevalent in our healthcare and academic institutions. 4–7 As evidence accumulated that provider bias contributes to poor health outcomes in certain ethnic and socioeconomic groups, 8, 9 has our research adequately focused on populations most in need? Do we possess the moral courage necessary to confront structural barriers to equitable healthcare? Some may push back and suggest that it is not a physician’s responsibility to figure out how to achieve social change for equity, 10 but rather this is work cut out for policymakers and politicians. Yet, it is part of our oath and duty to advocate for our patients, whether it be on the individual or societal level. As
影响因子：
7.4
作者：
Huddle, Thomas S.
通讯作者：
Huddle, Thomas S.
影响因子：
8
作者：
Linton, Julie M.;Griffin, Marsha;Shapiro, Alan J.
通讯作者：
Shapiro, Alan J.