Posted by
voice_of_reason on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 5:28:13 PM
'Do you know what it takes to perform a brain operation? Do you know the kind of skill it demands, and the years of passionate, merciless, excruciating devotion that go to acquire that skill? That was what I would not place at the disposal of men whose sole qualification to rule me was their capacity to spout the fraudulent generalities that got them elected to the privilege of enforcing their wishes at the point of a gun. I would not let them dictate the purpose for which my years of study had been spent, or the conditions of my work, or my choice of patients, or the amount of my reward. I observed that in all the discussions that preceded the enslavement of medicine, men discussed everything--except the desires of the doctors. Men considered only the "welfare" of the patients, with no thought for those who were to provide it. That a doctor should have any right, desire or choice in the matter, was regarded as irrelevant selfishness; his is not to choose, they said, only "to serve." . . . I have often wondered at the smugness with which people assert their right to enslave me, to control my work, to force my will, to violate my conscience, to stifle my mind--yet what is it that they expect to depend on, when they lie on an operating table under my hands?'
The above words were spoken by Dr. Thomas Hendricks, a fictional surgeon in Atlas Shrugged. This novel was was written by Ayn Rand 50 years ago, during an era in which the medical profession was free - at least relative to modern times.
These words are worth reading (or re-reading) in the current political context, in which Universal Health Care appears to be a foregone conclusion. What would happen to our society, if our brightest minds abandoned the medical profession due to the enslavement that results from the Govt takeover of this field?
Interestingly, the above words also apply to other professions - including those that have become traditionally associated with Governmental institutions, e.g. education.