Deficiency as a Rights Violation

When a person suffers from a measurable nutritional deficiency — in magnesium, vitamin D, iron, or any other essential nutrient — and the healthcare system refuses to provide a corrective intervention, this is not simply poor medical management. It is a violation of human rights.

Physiological rights rest on the principle that every individual has the right to the maintenance and restoration of their normal physiological parameters. This right is as fundamental as the right to freedom, security, or education. Without optimal physiological functioning, a person cannot fully exercise their other rights.

Inaction in the face of deficiency is not neutral. It produces concrete consequences: chronic fatigue, pain, mental health disorders, reduced working capacity, and deterioration in quality of life. By refusing to actively treat these imbalances, the State and healthcare system deprive individuals of their capacity to live fully.

This neglect is all the more serious because it is often justified by economic arguments or by the absence of “sufficient evidence.” But human rights are not conditional on profitability or the availability of randomised trials. They are absolute.

Physiological rights call for a paradigm shift: recognising that the obligation to actively correct physiological deficiencies is an obligation of results — not merely an obligation of means.