[ExI] U.S. Medical Care

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/4/1 Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com>:

> A century and a half ago the American Medical Association
> began its quest for total control over American medicine.
> The first really impressive results were the government
> licensing of physicians and the AMA's own control over
> the number of doctors.

In many jurisdictions it isn't actually illegal to practise medicine
without a license, but it is illegal to claim that you are a certified
doctor when you aren't. Body piercing is an example of a surgical
procedure which is not intrinsically easier or safer than some minor
therapeutic surgical procedures and yet is usually performed by people
who aren't medically qualified. So the certifying body doesn't
actually prevent people from practising medicine, but it has done a
really good PR job convincing Government, insurers and patients that
only those who have their special certificate are competent.

The one area where regulation does prevent anyone who feels like it
from practising medicine is prescription drugs. The argument is that
they are too dangerous to be used without medical supervision, but in
most other areas of life people are allowed to evaluate a risk and
exercise their own judgement as to whether to obtain expert help.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou