MARTIN CHERKASKY, MD: There is a restlessness and discontent in the land, particularly among those Americans who find that they have not shared adequately in the affluence which they see about them. Who among us is not aware of the peril in the cities which threatens our middle-class comfort and security represented by the search of the underprivileged for betterment. The whole civil rights movement is based on a pragmatic desire of minority peoples to share equally in the bounty of society and the war on poverty represents an awakening on the part of the underprivileged—a desire for equality and opportunity in education, in housing and in employment.
In medicine the gap between what society can do and what it actually does for the poor is so great that those of us who are concerned with health must assume a moral as well as professional responsibility for narrowing the gap.