[ExI] Sustainable Medicine

[Stefano Vaj]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: nvitamore at austin.rr.com <nvitamore at austin.rr.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Subject:
To: stefano.vaj at gmail.com


Stefano, please forward this to the list, as I am out of my study and
cannot post from this email address:



Sefano writes:

<<The truth is that medicine, irrespective of any possible future posthuman
change, has *never* been "sustainable", and might never be, and does not
really make sense from a strictly utilitarian point of view. At any time in
history, resources were disproportionally devoted to treat and heal patients
"at all costs" which would have much more "effectively" and "efficiently"
devoted to saving human lives (e.g., from death from starvation), or
avoiding pain, otherwise.

On the other hand, traditional medical ethics provides for an investment and
an effort in principle unlimited on *the single patient at hand*,
irrespective of "economic" considerations on the ideal utilitarian
allocation of resources. And this - besides having produced a substantial
progress in the state of the art that may be considered as an end per se by
some of us - is something that few people, and doctors, seems ready to waive
and surrender.>>

The future of medicine, for the not too distant future, is "regenerative."
(I have a paper coming out in a book which is currently heading to the
publishing house in the UK on this topic.)

But regenerative medicine does not solve all the problems that will ensue.
These problems will be socio-political, but perhaps more of a worldwide
issue of distribution, as Buckminister so often wrote and spoke about.

Natasha



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