A Declaration of Health Independence

Every Fourth of July is a fun filled celebration, with fireworks, barbecues, parades as well as time with friends and family. It is also a time when many take advantage of the opportunity to rest and relax on a day that is free of the obligations associated with many of our other holidays. It is also a time to reflect.

Today, I am reminded of the opportunities that have been bestowed on us due to the courage and wisdom of our Founding Fathers.?July 4th commemorates the ratification in 1776 of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress.?Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and reviewed by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, the Declaration states in part:

“That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

While not likely sufficient to satisfy the rigid constructionist view held by some current members of the Supreme Court, I believe that an unalienable right to Life includes health. And to those who say that a right to health is not protected by the Constitution, the 14th Amendment states to the contrary:

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States...”

I am not intending this post to be a formal legal treatise, but rather, relying on these prescient words, I believe there is a foundation for a Declaration of Health Independence that we should actively pursue, promote, and protect, and which should include:

1. Freedom to access care at affordable prices and without discrimination.

2. Freedom to receive integrated physical and mental healthcare focused on prevention as opposed to sick care.

3. Freedom to receive a living wage to provide for food, clothing, education, safe housing and other necessary social services for ourselves and our families. Particular protection should be provided to the most vulnerable in our society, including children and the elderly.

4. Freedom from interference with the personal choices we make about our health, including a woman’s right to choose?to bear a child, and the freedom for seniors to die with dignity. We must also recognize that the health of one of us impacts the health of all of us, and for the same reason there are restrictions on our ability to drive at whatever speed we want, or set fires in our homes, the same is true for public health measures, which we should acknowledge as part of our personal responsibility to secure the inalienable right of health.?

When these freedoms are realized, all of us will be able to achieve the Life that our founders envisioned.?As eloquently written a few years after the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution begins:

“We the People of?the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”

Wishing you and yours all of these many blessings for welfare and justice in your own pursuit of health.

Happy Fourth of July