Re: [asa] health care

It has nothing to do with the government. It has to do with doctors making decisions based on sound medical judgement, and denying treatment at times when it is suboptimal, for lack of a better term. It is an adjustment of priority that is needed, not a change in laws. The current situation is a societal/traditional, not government mandated.
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Schwarzwald
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Friday, September 25, 2009 11:30 PM
  Subject: Re: [asa] health care

  Jack,

  I'm having trouble figuring out what you mean. You say you think these decisions should remain at the level of individual decisions between patient and doctor. And you're also saying we need to shift from an individual perspective to a community one, and that someone (doctors) need "more power". But what can that mean? If it means government power, legal authority to say "this is the treatment you should get" or worse "this is the treatment someone who occupies your position on the Treatment Worthiness Scale should get", that's not keeping decisions on the level of patient and doctor. That's good old-fashioned decision by government, with the doctor deputized with certain amounts of authority along with rules about how to use that authority.

  And if that's what is meant, then the "who is in a better position to make these decisions?" question gets even blurrier than it is to begin with. At that point we have to go back and look at the track record of modern governments when it comes to respect for individual rights, humans as persons, etc. And that's when the picture isn't just "not pretty", it's downright ugly.

  On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 10:59 PM, Jack <drsyme@verizon.net> wrote:

    I want to emphasize my point that I think the decisions about allocation of health care needs to remain at the level of individual decisions between the patient and the doctor, not with the government. I am claiming that doctors should have more control over these decision than they have now. We (doctors) have given up too much to individualism, and need to reclaim some paternalism for the sake of decisions made in the communities best interest. There is a large grey area here, and there should be much debate about what is reasonable, and what is not, and who should decide. Nevertheless, in the big picture, who is in a better position to make these decisions?
      ----- Original Message -----
      From: Schwarzwald
      To: asa@calvin.edu
      Sent: Friday, September 25, 2009 10:31 PM
      Subject: Re: [asa] health care

      I think the suggestion that the Christian commitment to "sanctity of life" adds up to "preserving every life to the maximum extent possible" simply doesn't wash. I know in the Catholic Church - which tends to talk about "sanctity of life" constantly, and is perceived to do so to an extreme - it's explicitly stated that "preserving every life to the maximum extent possible" or goals close to such is rejected as a moral obligation. "Extraordinary means" to prolong life are entirely optional rather than obligatory, and refusing such means on the grounds of burden to family or otherwise are acceptable.

      At the same time, there is a strong rejection of euthanasia - typically seen as an active killing, offering up drugs or "treatments" that are themselves designed to kill the recipient. For myself, that is a key area, and one of massive importance - the line between recognizing death as a natural, and inevitable, part of this human life, and regarding death as a desirable thing, a solution to a problem. Worse, an accounting problem.

      I also think in this debate far too much emphasis is placed on the role of government, when (as always) the major work required is at the level of the individual, culture, and community. "There is a problem, how should the government solve it?" often strikes me as a red herring - maybe the problem isn't one appropriate for government to solve. Maybe fewer problems than we think are.

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Received on Fri Sep 25 23:54:20 2009