The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care Daniel S. Blumenthal, MD, MPH (bio) The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care, by John Dittmer. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press, 2009. 336 pp. Beginning in 1964, the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) was the medical arm of the civil rights movement, then the medical arm of the anti-Vietnam War movement, and then faded away by the early 1980s. Its rise and decline parallel those of some other progressive organizations of that period, such as the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Unlike those groups, however, MCHR was a professional organization, comprising physicians and medical students, as well as some nurses and other health care professionals, who felt compelled to work for social justice as an ethical imperative of their profession. The history of MCHR might have eventually been reduced to “war stories” shared among aging veterans of the movement but for the efforts of Dr. Walter Lear, one of the organization’s founders. For years, Lear solicited contributions of papers and memorabilia from former MCHR members, which he stored, largely unsorted, in a historical archive of his own creation: the Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health in Philadelphia. In fact, the Institute existed in Lear’s attic. Thanks to historian John Dittmer, the material has now been processed and is in the rare book collection at the University of Pennsylvania. Dittmer used these papers, as well as extensive interviews with some of the former MCHR leaders, to write a compelling book about an important bit of history little-known except to those who participated in it. The MCHR had its origins in 1963 in an organization known as the Medical Committee for Civil Rights (MCCR), which pressed the American Medical Association to force its southern constituent state medical societies to integrate and participated in the March on Washington. By 1964, MCCR had been supplanted by MCHR, which became a part of Mississippi Freedom Summer and the broader civil rights movement, providing health care for civil rights workers and first aid for demonstrators. It was MCHR that demanded, successfully, that the federal Medicare program abide by its own regulations and require the integration of southern hospitals. In 1967, the organization took a controversial (even within MCHR) stand against the War in Vietnam and began to provide “medical presence” at anti-war demonstrations. The organization was well-represented at events that have become legend: the Selma to Montgomery March; Resurrection City; the riots outside the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago; Native American actions at Wounded Knee; and Alcatraz. By the early 1970s, MCHR had expanded its agenda and its membership, with chapters [End Page 1088] in major cities across the U.S. and initiatives to promote prisoner health, occupational health, free clinics, and even a national health service. After that, the organization began to disintegrate, the victim of changing times, a shortage of funds, and a fractious internal struggle with its most radical faction. By the time of its 20th anniversary, there were virtually no members left to celebrate (although many of the veterans organized a 30th Anniversary Reunion in 1995). The Good Doctors is the story of an important, if generally overlooked, part of “the movement”—civil rights, anti-war, and other causes—of the 1960s and 70s. While the book is generally well-written, it is occasionally difficult to follow the timeline, as the narrative moves from one venue to another. Some MCHR members who led local chapters will likely feel left out, since the book includes little information about these initiatives. But these quibbles do not diminish the significance of the work, nor its readability. Substantial gratitude is due Dr. Lear (the archivist) and Dr. Dittmer (the historian) for keeping alive the story of MCHR and its role in the progressive struggles of the mid-20th century for civil rights, for peace, and to bring reality to the slogan that “health care is a human right.” Daniel S. Blumenthal Dr. Blumenthal is a Professor and Chairman of...