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On Personal Responsibility and the Human Right to Healthcare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2005

YVONNE DENIER
Affiliation:
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Extract

Does a human right to healthcare imply individual obligations to healthy behavior? Or put another way: Is a self-induced condition a relevant criterion for some sort of restriction of this right—like withholding or modifying treatment in circumstances where choices have to be made? For instance, should a drunk driver bear the costs of medical care that he needs after a car accident he has caused? Should there be a difference in healthcare entitlements between the smoker with a heart attack who is seriously overweight and the 60-year old man who has always taken excellent care of himself and is suddenly stricken by leukemia? And how should we think about the risk-taking behavior of all the persons going on a skiing holiday or an exotic hiking trip?I am grateful to Claire Dawson, Kurt Devooght, Bart Engelen, Doris Schroeder, Ronald Tinnevelt, Toon Vandevelde, and two anonymous reviewers for their editorial assistance and helpful comments on a previous draft.

Type
HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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