Abstract

People with a neurological pathology experience multiple obstacles to exercising their right to health, such as lack of information, resources, discrimination, stigmatization, violation of their autonomy and dignity. It is important that the elderly have a quality of life for their physical, mental and spiritual well-being, and it is imperative to examine the optimization of health services, especially in the case of patients with neurodegenerative pathologies. The right to health is materialized in the quality of health services as a beginning in the development of the dignity of the elderly in a state of neurological vulnerability. The objective is to know the relationship between the right to health and dignity as a principle of social justice in Mexico. Promoting the creation of public policies for prevention, timely access to specialized treatments, the training of health professionals in this field, as well as the promotion of healthy lifestyles that contribute to the prevention of these diseases. Through the qualitative study complemented by the legal hermeneutic method and the hermeneutical phenomenological method of Paul Ricoeur, it is evident that dignity in old age will go hand in hand with the exercise of the rights to health, as long as equity in health services is ensured, followed by the quality of life of older adults in their last stage of the human development cycle.

Keywords:
right to health; old age; public health; dignity; social justice