Medical Committee for Human Rights facts for kids

The Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) was a group of American healthcare professionals. They first came together in June 1964. Their main goal was to provide medical care for people working for civil rights. This included activists and volunteers during the "Freedom Summer" project in Mississippi. The MCHR was closely connected to the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. even spoke at their meeting in 1966. The group continued to work for many years. They fought for better healthcare access for all disadvantaged Americans. They became part of the "new left" movement.

MCHR's Work and History

More than a hundred healthcare professionals joined the "Freedom Summer" project. These included doctors, nurses, psychologists, and social workers. Each person spent at least a week helping out. Even though they were respected for their jobs, they faced a lot of bigotry. This was the same kind of unfair treatment that civil rights workers experienced.

Some big organizations did not agree with the MCHR's methods. For example, the American Medical Association (AMA) had a policy until the late 1960s. This policy allowed state medical groups to be racially segregated. This meant African-American doctors could not get certain hospital rights. However, many important public figures supported the MCHR. One supporter was Paul Dudley White. He was the personal doctor for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The MCHR was started by Walter Lear. Aaron O. Wells was the group's first national leader.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech at the MCHR meeting in 1966. He said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."

Why MCHR Declined

After the main Civil Rights Movement ended in the late 1960s, most official rules that limited healthcare access were gone. This made the MCHR's work less clear. The group became less effective during the 1970s and 1980s.

A big reason for their decline was that they could not convince the U.S. government to create a single-payer health care system. This would have meant the government paid for everyone's healthcare. Or, they wanted some other way to help all Americans get care, no matter how much money they had. This failure made many members lose hope. The group did not last through the Reagan administration.

MCHR's Lasting Impact

The MCHR became a role model for groups that came after it. These include Physicians for Human Rights and Physicians for a National Health Program. These new groups shared MCHR's main goals. They wanted to improve healthcare for people facing unfair treatment. They also aimed to make the general healthcare system better for everyone.

See also

• Criticism of the American Medical Association
• Ann Hirschman