Up too late to think straight – is there a drug for this?
Maybe I’ll just go to sleep.
City Brights: Rich Lieberman : Hello ‘Michael Jackson news’–goodbye ‘Health-care debate.
I saw this link and just thought, hmm, what does ‘medical homicide‘ have to do with our health care system? I don’t know how the prescription drug abuse problem factors in to a national health care debate, but I think it should.
I think it’s a sign of how jacked the American relationship is with health care that Jackson died due to a prescription obtained from and administered by a physician, but no one sees it as related to health care at all. (Okay, maybe in this case it should be called “health manipulation.”)
We have a system where the very rich can pay for custom medical requests, to the point where celebrities die every so often from misuse of “legally” obtained prescription drugs. And on the opposite end of the earnings spectrum, people who can’t afford health care at all. Health care vs. Money, a struggle that’s killing patients at every pay scale.
I truly believe that just because one has a medical license, is paid and follows technically correct procedure for administering drugs doesn’t mean it’s right, ethical or legal to do so. Doctors have an ethical and legal responsibility to protect the lives of their patients, and I think this includes even when they are paid highly to fill patient orders. If I ask for a drug just because I saw a cute ad on TV, I expect my doctor to advise me of potential risks and to refuse my request if it puts my life in danger. Call me crazy.
No wait, call it the Hippocratic oath.
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