[Medicine and human rights]

Medicine's task to promote health without inflicting harm is parallel to the two dimensions of human rights-"the positive rights", meaning the right of fulfillment of certain basic needs, and "the negative rights", meaning protection from harmful violations. A historical review shows that the practice of medicine has been an integral part of every civilization in human history, but that the ideas of human rights are a more recent invention of the human mind. In spite of old philosophical traditions about the unique value of the human being, the idea that all human beings are created equal and born with the same rights has only been truly recognized in recent centuries, and has been elaborated through conventions and declarations in national and international political institutions after World War II. At the crossroads between human rights and medicine, five points are high-lighted: the extensive prevalence of man-made disease, the relationship between medical diagnoses, ethics and law, the connection between healing and moral rehabilitation, the relationship between health, psychology and fair trials in society, and the role of physicians in conflicts of loyalty.