virus: Health and Medicine (from Sexuality and Monogamy)

Reed Konsler (konsler@ascat.harvard.edu)
Sat, 14 Sep 1996 13:00:01 -0400


>From: ken sartor <sartor@visidyne.com>
>Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 13:52:39 -0500

>>3) Silly surgery like liposuction and breast enlargements should be made
>>illegal. Surgery always involves antibiotics to prevent infection.

>I disagree. People should be able to make their own decisions
>about what they want to look like (and how they want to live
>their lives). And certainly some people can really benefit
>from the above surguries (i make no claim as to the percentage
>who actually *do* have these large benefits).

Sure. I mean, I agree with the idea of protecting personal freedom in the
broadest sense. But, if you take elective surgery your doctor is required
to give you antibiotics to avoid infection. Each use of antibiotics
entails the finite chance of the development of resistant strains.

People should have freedom...but one wants them to use this freedom in the
common interest. Since I can't count on that I'm in favor of encouraging
them by law when it comes to issues I feel are vital to the survival of
myself and those people important to me.

Alright, maybe I wouldn't make it ILLEGAL...how about charging a sort of
"sin tax" that would be directed toward research in the field (Mmmm...more
money for the chemists! Yeah!).

Here is another example of how a problem that is supposedly solved acually
gets distributed in time ans space. I get a breast enlargement and "solve"
the problem of infection by using antibiotics...in actuallity distributing
that problem into the community.

Tragedy of the commons.

Reed

Reed Konsler
konsler@ascat.harvard.edu