A group of doctors discussed gambling.
“You’d never believe the pain some of my patients experience with problem gambling,” one said.
“We should lobby government to stop using revenues from gambling!” said another.
Some listeners nodded.
“Don’t we finance hospitals with lotteries?”
Silence.
“Should physicians dictate morality?” someone asked.
Doctors Limit Freedom?
Regardless of the morality of gambling and casinos, should physicians advocate for laws that limit patient freedom? What is the role of freedom in health and human flourishing?
A physician leader frowned at my defence of patient freedom.
“When do we stop making laws and start supporting individual freedom?” I asked.
“Don’t you agree with seat belts?” he asked. “How about stop signs?”
“Of course I agree with seat belts and stop signs,” I said.
“Well, then you agree with government limiting free choice!”
Now there’s the rub: how much freedom do we give up to live together in a ‘free’ society?
People who conflate stop signs with prohibition confuse mutual limits on individual freedom with imposing personal preference on others.
It’s one thing for us to obey stop signs for the safety of all. It’s something else entirely for intelligentsia to impose restrictions on other people’s behaviour that have little to do with their own freedom.
What do you think? Where do we draw the line between promoting healthy ideas and limiting individual freedom? Who should decide? Do we need more health related laws or do we have too many already?