Philosophy In Action All the ideas and discussions
29 votes Vote

How is receiving the council of an attorney a right (at no cost if you can't afford it) while receiving healthcare is not a right?

During the healthcare debate last year I was strongly of the opinion that healthcare is not a right, but when I compared it to the right to an attorney, I had a harder time clarifying my reasons against healthcare as a right. Does it make a difference to distinguish a right to receive healthcare versus to receive free healthcare? Why should a repeat offender continue to obtain free council at the cost of the taxpayer while a presumably innocent sick person shouldn't receive life-saving medication or treatment at the cost of the taxpayer? On one hand there is a potential loss of liberty, but on the other hand there is a potential loss of life. What factors am I missing or confusing?

jackieblum14, 01.03.2011, 16:20
Idea status: completed

Comments

Michael Gillespie, 02.03.2011, 17:25
Obligatory disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, and I have no legal training.

This question confuses a "right" as granted by the legislature or the courts with an inherent right.

The Right to Counsel results from Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution, relevant case law and their applicability to the Miranda warning. It is not an inherent right, and thus (I would argue) not a right at all, and for the same reason a "right to healthcare" is not an inherent right.

The Miranda right to counsel is a faulty application of the 6th Amendment right to "the Assistance of Counsel".

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."

This has been interpreted to mean that the state must provide counsel, rather than to mean that the state cannot DENY counsel to a defendant.

In short, there is no right to counsel in the Constitution, for the same moral reason that there is no right to healthcare: I cannot compel another to act to fulfill my "rights". The word for that is "slavery".
SHathway, 01.04.2011, 10:55
Well said!

Leave a comment