PROVIDING HEALTH CARE TO ALL PATIENTS:
ASSESSMENT OF THE CONCEPT WITHIN THE
The health care issue addressed in this research is framed by the following question: "Should health care professionals be required to provide care to all patients without exception?" The growing diversity in the structure of the American population, an increase in the incidence of both incurable and highly communicable diseases among this population, and an evolving social milieu that to some people causes the unthinkable to be considered work together to create moral, ethical, and practical dilemmas for many in the healing professions. These dilemmas frequently are associated with the concept of an obligation of the health care professional to provide care to whomever needs it; a concept that is questioned by some when considering contemporary societal conditions. The issue of providing health to all patients is addressed in this research within the context of providing health care to undocumented aliens within the American population.
Georg Simmel's sociological theory incorporates both subjective and objective elements (Quigley, 1994, pp. 43-55). The theory provides a basis for non-deductive historical explanation of social phenomena. Simmel emphasized an interactionist approach to sociological inquiry (Waiter, 1993, pp. 69-75). Forms of interaction play are significant in Simmel's sociological theory (Levine, 1991, pp. 1097-1116). Understanding and explaining societal phenomena within this interactionist framework produces a collective "imaginary" that strongly influences the determination of both political and domestic trends (Maffesoli, 1993, pp. 7-15). To be able to understand to what new forms the collective "imaginary" will lead, sociologists must assess both the subjective and the objective elements of the social system. In approaching assessment, Simmelian sociological theory relies on the principal of reciprocal action within a gi...