On Tue, 9 Apr 2002, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > We don't need to make dangerous activities illegal, Chris. We must > simply say, "Look, live as you wish, but if your unwillingness to > exercise or cut down on saturated fat / tobacco / hard liquor or > whatever, leads you to develop a heart condition, or Type 2 diabetes, > ir lung cancer, etc., you're on your own." Give people five years to > clean up their act. Then eliminate treatment for self-inflicted > conditions from our health-care system unless your premium explicitly > includes a costly rider. That will leave more funds to treat > congenital conditions and other conditions that people, especially > children, don't bring on themselves.
The process to determine how much of a condition is the victim's fault would be so invasive of personal privacy that it's ludicrous. Also, it's impossible to come up with a logical place to draw the line. Will you deny me treatment for my lung cancer if I stopped smoking 20 years ago? How about 10? Or 5? Or 1? How about 3 weeks, or 5 minutes ago? How can you prove I haven't just been inhaling second hand smoke for the past few years? I believe in the importance of taking responsibility for your actions, but I don't support massive privacy invasion and personal investigation in the process. You may not agree with the policy of supporting the weak and stupid, but that's one of the things that most societies do. Does this mean no more medical treatment for pedestrians in accidents; how do you know they didn't cross without looking both ways? Your idea, as simple as it sounds, would work much better in theory than in practice. chris - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
