Bill:
My reference to "complete change" was for the entire medical industry and not
just individual scales. Sorry for the non-clarity.
Stan Doore
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Hooper
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 10:48 AM
Subject: [USMA:38704] Re: Is U.S. metrication still considered "extreme?"
On 2007 May 16 , at 10:15 AM, STANLEY DOORE wrote:
It would take the medical industry to require weighting and recording
people's mass in the SI. This also would require a complete change in scales
to show and record in SI units. Very expensive but doable.
My doctor already has a scale that weighs in kilograms, but he doesn't. It is
a digital scale that can weigh in either pounds or kilograms at the touch of a
switch. His nurse weighs me in pounds (which I carefully don't look at) and
when she is done, I throw the switch and get my mass in kilograms (and I tell
the nurse what it is).
So, for some doctors at least, recording masses in SI would not "require a
complete change in scales" as Stanley suggests (above). It would just take the
touch of a switch. I suspect many other doctors have similar scales.
Here's where the federal government could have a significant impact. They
should require by law that all scales (and other measuring instruments) should
be able to measure in SI, in addition to Ye Olde English mix of units. Doctors
(and others) could continue using them to measure in old units but when the
time came that the national will is to go metric, it would not require any
massive purchase of new instruments; it would just take the touch of a switch.
Bill Hooper
73 kg body mass*
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
* plus or minus a kilogram or so.
