USA TODAY -- Lorenzo Servitje, Ph.D., is a professor of literature and medicine at Lehigh University and a Master of Public Health candidate at Dartmouth College. Martha Lincoln, Ph.D., is a professor of medical and cultural anthropology at San Francisco State University. Gavin Yamey, M.D., is a professor of global health and public policy at Duke University, where he directs the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health. They wrote this opinion piece for USA Today.
“Americans pride themselves on our country’s strong commitment to civil liberties – freedom of speech, religion, press and due process. But what good are those if we lack the capacity to exercise them?” they wrote. “As anyone who has experienced serious illness knows, health allows us to make the most of our freedoms. When we are sick, or when our friends and family members are sick, we become less free.”