Patient's Bill of Rights

The Idea of Rights

The concept of rights is relatively new in human history.
Before constitutional democracies, rights were typically held by elite individuals such as the aristocracy and the ruling class.
- The divine right of kings extended to aristocrats and royal families.
- This included the right to rule and to subsist off the labor of others.
- Aristocrats sometimes had the right of primae noctis.

Divine rights were considered granted by God or gods.
Similar ideas existed in non-Christian African and Asian countries, where emperors or leaders were seen as divinely empowered.
The idea of the nation-state challenged this, asserting equality among individuals.
A major shift occurred with the idea that rights are inherent to all humans by virtue of being human, given by God or nature.
Thinkers like John Locke, Rousseau, and Thomas Hobbes contributed to this idea

The extension of divine rights to all humans was theoretical and gradual.
Even with the abolition of slavery, full rights for women were not immediately recognized.

Enumeration: How many rights do we have?
Scope: What qualifies as a right?
Example: The concept of housing as a human right raises questions about what kind of housing and how it would be provided.

Some believe rights are endowed by a creator (as stated in the Declaration of Independence: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness").
- Originally, it was "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property," which was changed to "happiness" to avoid implications regarding slavery.
The belief that God gives rights doesn't always translate to practical protection of those rights.
The idea of natural rights suggests that rights are nature-given rather than God-given.

Thomas Hobbes argued that nature dictates might makes right outside of a civil system.
Jeremy Bentham famously called natural rights "nonsense on stilts," questioning how rights can be derived from nature.

Human rights are ideals to aspire to.
Civil rights are entitlements within a society that are protected by law.
Denial of civil rights allows for recourse within the legal system.
Example: Being held in jail for more than 48 hours without charges violates due process rights.

Civil rights are determined by a society's constitution and case law.
Defining something as a human right means advocating for it to become a civil entitlement.
Providing housing for everyone is impractical and has historically led to negative outcomes.

A right not to be interfered with.
If it's legal to obtain something, nobody can hinder you from obtaining it.
The philosophy is: if it's not specifically illegal, it's legal.
Example: The decriminalization of marijuana provides a negative right to use it.

A right to something or to assistance.
Example: The right to an attorney, even if you can't afford one.
Positive Rights: Rights to have something.
This includes food, housing, medical care, education, etc.
They imply an obligation on others to provide you with whatever it is that you are said to have a right to.
Unlike negative rights, with positive rights, there is the problem of enumeration and scope.

Rationing health care resources on a large and general scale.
Decisions about how much to spend on public health care at the city, town, state, or national level.