Essay: Dignity of Human Person and Realization of Common Good

This essay explores the crucial relationship between human dignity and the realization of the common good within healthcare. It defines human dignity as the ethical treatment, respect, and value afforded to every individual, regardless of their background or capabilities, and the common good as what benefits all members of society. The essay contrasts the common good with the "greatest good for the greatest number" principle, emphasizing the importance of considering the needs of the less privileged. It highlights how healthcare practices, such as education on healthy lifestyles, environmental sanitation campaigns, regular checkups, and support groups, can promote human dignity and the common good. The essay references relevant literature and international documents, such as the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, to support its arguments. It stresses the role of healthcare workers in fostering a team environment to deliver the best services and ensure the well-being of the community. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significance of educating future generations on these principles to sustain the advancement of human dignity and the common good in healthcare.

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The Dignity of Human Person and Realization of Common Good
The Dignity of the Human Person and Realization of the Common Good
Student’s Name
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The Dignity of Human Person and Realization of Common Good
Human dignity is described as the principle in which every person has a right to be
treated ethically, being respected and also valued. Each person is worth being treated with honor
and respect. This should not be based on what the person is capable of doing, who they are,
political background, religion or the social class that they belong. Thus, human dignity can never
be taken away from someone neither can it ever be earned. Common good on the other hand
means what can be generally accepted and beneficial to all. This means consideration of all
people’s interest and equity (Tsesis, 2017).
Common good doctrine is the most appropriate factor that accelerates to thinking about
health care. The common good is totally different from John Stuart Mills quotation “greatest
good for the greatest number”. This discriminates the minority and favors only the majority in
the community and the common good should not be administered at the expense of the less
privileged in the society. Instead, it should be able to focus on helping and unifying all the
different classes of people in the community (Portugal, 2017). Common good in health care is
described as an impetuous for action. Services given for example by the nurses to the sick can be
viewed as promoting the common good.
The common good as a principle focuses on the virtue of solidarity. Beth Haile argues
that “a team does not win because each player does try to score as many goals as possible, but
conditions do need to be optimal for each individual player to play in order for a team to win”.
This justifies the issue of solidarity. Health care workers should also mobilize themselves
working as a team to always give the best services to the vulnerable community that has all their
eyes on them relying on their skills to restore their deteriorating health conditions. Pope John
XXIII (on Christianity and social progress) illustrate the common good as “the sum of the total
of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their

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The Dignity of Human Person and Realization of Common Good
fulfillment more fully and more easily”. Therefore, the health workers must work as a team in
order to promote the dignity of the human person and realization of the common good
(Tasioulas, 2016).
Human dignity has been studied and analyzed by the Universal Declaration on Bioethics
and Human Rights (UNESCO). The article 3 of this international document contends that
“human dignity, human rights, and fundamental principles are to be respected to the maximum”.
When patients go to the hospital to seek medical attention they become vulnerable and only put
their faith in this medical attendant (Sołtan, 2018).
Realization of human dignity and the common good can be facilitated through various
practices in medical practices. A team of medical attendants can decide to organize a seminar
and educate people on better methods of living to avoid health problems. They can educate them
on healthy diets, the risk associated with not doing regular exercise. Risks such as being
overweight or obesity, tooth decays as a result of eating a lot of sugars with no cleaning of the
teeth, high blood pressure, issues of high cholesterol levels heart diseases and stroke,
osteoporosis and some cancers will be reduced. This will help in the realization of human dignity
since people will be able to realize the value of their bodies and thus able to maintain themselves.
When you know your value, it becomes so easy to uphold your dignity and avoid practices that
complicate your health.
Health attendants can also organize and campaign on environmental sanitation; they can
do so by working with the people on various community levels to carry out charity works. They
should also request the government to cooperate with them in efforts of keeping the environment
clean. This has been done in various countries through burning nylon papers, having public bins
for waste disposals, planting of trees and imposing fines to those who violate nature’s rules

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The Dignity of Human Person and Realization of Common Good
(Scheid, 2016).Through these health problems such as mild fever which is associated with poor
sanitation, infections in the intestines which causes diarrhea which leads to dehydration can be
avoided all this for the common good.
Health attendants can also decide to run activities such as regular checkups to the
community; this will help in detection of early signs of various health problems and thus able to
advance early treatment as well. Through these diseases such as cancers will be detected as early
enough to facilitate treatment all for the common good. Other activities such as creating support
groups and educating the youth will also help in the realization human dignity and the common
good. Realization of human dignity and the common good can be advanced through our daily
medical practices. All we need is educating the youths; this will enable them to administer the
same in the coming future (Felber, 2015).

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The Dignity of Human Person and Realization of Common Good
REFERENECES
Felber, C. (2015). Change everything: Creating an economy for the common good. London:
Zed Books.
Portugal, J. P. (2017, November 12). Human dignity, rights, and the common good. Retrieved
from https://prezi.com/qwvnv2pwwztp/human-dignity-rights-and-the-zzcommon-good/
Sołtan J. (2018). Justice, Human Dignity and Human Rights. The Good Society, 26(2-3),
354. doi:10.5325/goodsociety.26.2-3.0354
Scheid, D. P. (2016). The cosmic common good: Religious grounds for ecological ethics.
Tasioulas, J. T., & Vayena, E. V. (2016, August 1). The place of human rights and the common
good in global health policy. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4996864/
Tsesis, A. (2017). Constitutional ethos: Liberal equality for the common good