This paper analyses the historical origins of the concepts of welfare as a positive
right and of quality of life. The latter has historical antecedents but has become
important in the latter half of the twentieth century, owing to the conflict
between consumer demands for medicine and constraints upon spending. It is
argued that, beyond the immediate economic and utilitarian contexts, the
concept of quality of life has the potential to promote individual liberty and a
more subjectively-based approach to medicine.
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References
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P. Lain Entralgo, El Diagnóstico Médico: Historia y Teoria (Barcelona : Salvat, 1982).
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A. Medina León and M.J. Moreno Diaz , 'Antropologia médica del quehacer psiquiátrico ', XIX Congreso Nacional de la Sociedad Española de Psiquiátria, 1993.
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P. Lain Entralgo, Antropologia Medica (Barcelona: Salvat, 1984).
