Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly by Norman Daniels

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Synopsis

Norman Daniels, author of the award-winning Just Healthcare, develops a comprehensive theory of justice for health.

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Reviewer:Erica Rangel, BA (Saint Louis University)
Description:In this book, author Norman Daniels continues on themes of his earlier book, Just Health Care (Cambridge University Press, 1985) , by addressing the question "As a matter of justice, what do we owe each other to promote and protect health in a population?"
Purpose:The author develops an integrated theory of justice for health that answers three central questions: What is the special moral importance of health? When are health inequalities unjust? How can we meet health needs fairly when we cannot meet them all? His answers to these questions are comprehensive and well argued, within his Rawlsian framework, and have significant import for both national and global healthcare policy.
Audience:The book is written for anyone interested in justice in healthcare, especially those involved in public policy debates. However, the author's arguments are very philosophical in nature, grounded primarily in Rawlsian political philosophy, so are of particular interest to political philosophers and bioethicists. The author is a bioethicist with an impressive career in the field.
Features:The first of the book's three sections develops an integrated theory of justice and health, giving detailed answers for each of the three central questions articulated above and offering some general implications for the theory. The second responds to three specific challenges to the theory and the final section applies the theory to various issues of global health, including health system reform, HIV/AIDS treatments, race and gender health disparities,occupational health, and human rights and priority setting. While the application section is pertinent and certainly interesting, what stands out as particularly impressive is the author's development of a comprehensive and well articulated theory for the just distribution of healthcare and healthcare resources in part one.
Assessment:As a sequel to Just Health Care, which introduced the author's Rawlsian account of why health is of special moral importance, this book broadens the scope of his theory to address the more challenging questions of global social justice and distribution in healthcare. His argument is well developed and persuasively argued, leaving readers challenged not only to seriously consider the viability of his theory, but to continue engaging in meaningful discussion about how to eliminate international health inequalities.

Biography

Norman Daniels is Mary B. Saltonstall Professor and Professor of Ethics and Populations Health at Harvard School of Public Health. A member of the Institute of Medicine, a Fellow of the Hastings Center, a Founding Member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and of the International Society for Equity in Health, he has consulted for organisations, commissions, and governments, including the United Nations, WHO, and the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine, on issues of justice and health policy. Dr Daniels is the author of numerous books. He has received fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and held a Robert Wood Johnson Investigator's Award as well as a Rockefeller Foundation grant for the international adaptation of benchmarks.