Doctors will no longer have a way out of favoring wealthy patients and not treating those without the means to pay for it. The Indian supreme court established a precedent Thursday, holding firm on its stance that doctors who shy away from treating patients without the affluence or wealth that medical costs normally demand will be persecuted under Indian law and could face fines and prison time.
The Supreme Court has asked the government to create and start enforcing laws that will take effect as soon as possible so that these wrongdoers may be accordingly dealt with. The Court additionally asked that the government seek proper law enforcement to ensure the functioning and funding of medical facilities across the country, in part to stop the spread of this problem and also to improve a very rudimentary medical care system in many parts of the nation.
In light of the extremely visible and sensitive rape cases and how doctors often refused to treat victims because of their status, the ruling comes as a necessary and refreshing change that is bound to help save many more lives.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you see a work of charity or work of justice in this action? How, specifically, will this act help improve the lackluster Indian healthcare system? Explain.
2. Where is there a breakdown in justice in this situation (before the article was written)? What type of justice is being violated and what sinful social structures are at the heart of it?
3. Why, in your opinion, is there such a bias towards money over the moral good in the case of these doctors? All of them take the Hippocratic Oath as they graduate from medical school, but why can't they adhere to it?
1. By creating and putting into effect laws that seek to provide fair health care distribution for those in need can be considered a work of justice for the unfortunate. This is so because instead of simply giving healthcare to those with less money, the system in which healthcare is dealt out could possibly change, with potential for setting an example for what is right to do.
ReplyDelete2. Two types of justice can be considered violated before the linked article was written: distributive and individual justice. By concentrating availability to healthcare in the hands of those who can afford it, the poor are marginalized. Additionally, individual doctors who willingly choose to not help others solely due to economic disadvantages violates their individual duty to uphold justice. The sinful nature of these justice violations may derive from human greed and because the poor cannot pay doctors, the doctors do not help the poor.
3. In my opinion, I feel that doctors do not adhere to the Hippocratic Oath in India as strongly as they might in a Western country is because the doctors may not be as used to having a much relative power in these situations as they are typically used. India's fast growing economy may blind people from what is right and guide them to solely seek possessions rather than focus on their job which is to help people.
1. I see a work of justice for those marginalized by society because laws are being put into place and enforced to ensure that their rights are maintained. It is a universal human right to have access to healthcare, and in doing so, the Indian government will guarantee these rights. The Indian healthcare system will become less corrupt as doctors begin to care for all people no matter what level of hierarchy they stand in. The doctors may even become better at their practice by welcoming all.
ReplyDelete2. This issue involves a breakdown of distributive and individual justice. Distributive injustice is shown by the government and medical facilities that turn away patients that are poor because a social structure that should be serving its people distributively fails to do so. Also, the Indian government demonstrates distributive injustice because it is essentially telling the entirety of the population that those with lower income values and of lower castes are insignificant. The presence of individual injustice is in the individual doctors and other medical officials who turn away patients. These people could very easily take in all those in need, but they willingly choose to not serve them as they should. Overall, the corruption of the caste system is the basis of this injustice. The lack of government regulation in the area is the main issue, and additional injustice just keeps building off from that.
3. I believe these doctors are much too greedy for their own good. In a country with an escalating economy, it becomes a competition to rise to the very top. Eventually, as depicted in this situation, these doctors and their practice become corrupt. Money becomes the basis of their practice because that is where the emphasis is placed. The Hippocratic Oath becomes insignificant to them because no one is there to stop them from ignoring it. This is just another example of how easily money can corrupt.