title: [The levels of health justice and the distribution of resources].
abstract: The right to health care is a social achievement of democratic states based on law. In order for this to become effective in a just way, it is necessary for many elements to come together. This article analyses these elements in their different moments: the state as a guarantor of this right and to limit assistance; the health institutions, direct managers of care, which must combine efficiency and equity; and, finally, the health professionals, who are in the final instance the real distributors of resources. Traditionally medicine always omitted evaluation of the socio-economic factors from its sphere. It even came to consider that these questions were opposed to good medical practice. Today such an assertion is unsustainable. For a health professional the path to efficiency passes by way of assuring clinical effectiveness, in this way guaranteeing both the patient's interest and the suitable distribution of resources.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. acouceiro@arrakis.es
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Couceiro
mesh_terms: D006296:Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D040841:Resource Allocation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012935:Social Justice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013030:Spain; D013548:Sweden