Well, the question was asked "in First Am[endment] terms." (To
quote the earlier post to which I was responding, "So the state saw a problem
with doctors imposing ideological values in the
name of medicine, and limited doctor's speech to prevent that. The AMA was on
the other side of the fence in that argument. But how is it different in First
Am terms?") If the argument isn't for a government policy, that's fine, but it
sounded to me like it was an argument for a government policy.
As to a doctor's trying to sell you tires, I would think that
would be protected commercial advertising under the Court's First Amendment
precedents - and that's even though commercial advertising is generally less
protected than other speech. So again I'm not sure how the tire promotion
analogy is any more of a support for a restriction on doctors' questions about
guns than the restriction on sexual-orientation-change therapy of minors would
be.
Eugene
James Heath writes:
Eugene wrote:
"I'm not sure how that supports the constitutionality of a ban on simply asking
questions -- questions that might well lead to perfectly reasonable advice,
though they might also lead to unsound advice -- of adult patients."
First, I am not arguing for a government policy on the subject. I do think that
doctors are interjecting politics into their medicine so do not sympathize with
their complaints that politics are being interjected into medicine. I think
they are abusing their position to impose a policy preference that has the
slimmest nexus to their trade. Global warming will affect water supply but I
don't want to hear a lecture about it from the guy unplugging my toilet. That's
not his job.
>From the above, it sounds like the constitutionality of defining doctors'
>speech as "treatment" and restricting it is unresolved or vaguely contoured.
>Does the constitutionality depend on the scientific merits? And if so, as
>judged by the legislature or by the courts?
If a doctor asks what brand tires you have on your car maybe that's free
speech. But if it turns out Pirelli is paying doctors to ask the question as
part of a "push-polll" advertising campaign, most people might think a speech
restriction would be in order.
Who would be the arbiter of whether car tires are a legitimate "health issue"
and protected speech?
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