Deserving or non-deserving? There is NO question!!

What makes a person or a population non-deserving? I cannot even fathom a person trying to find a justified answer to this question. The concept of “lower class” or “non-deserving people” has been part of society for several centuries and still exists today, as shown by the pictures of the Roma people. Bottom line --I believe that there is no such thing as a non-deserving person or population. Especially when it comes to basic human rights—I believe that every person should be treated the same despite where they come from, class, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. In particular, health care is also a basic human right. Every person in the world, despite demographic characteristics, deserves a healthy life. As health care professionals, it is not up to us whether a person deserves health care or not—our job is to treat/care for any individual. Today’s society focuses greatly on curing the individual rather than helping an entire population and most often policy makers see vulnerable populations at fault for their status. For example,
lack of education, obesity, unemployment, drug/substance abuse are often stigmatized against, thus less policies are made for these types of issues—as Mechanic and Tanner state in their article. When it comes to vulnerable populations such as those depicted in the pictures, it gives us more reason to justify that these populations are deserving. Every individual has the same capacity to achieve a healthy life—but it is what that person is provided with by society that makes the difference. If society provides its people with a safe community, education, and even basic health care, the people would be a lot healthier and live their lives with the dignity they deserve. All populations are deserving—vulnerable or not—but vulnerable populations need to be given more assistance to put them on the right track. If higher classes/majority of the population treats stigmatizes and outcasts a minority—and it results in high unemployment, low education, drug/substance abuse, social/mental problems, etc. At the end of the day it is not the fault of the vulnerable population—it is the fault of society as a whole. Thus, all populations deserve the right to a healthy life—despite of race, class, religion, gender, etc.