“Should Smokers and Drinker be denied treatment on the NHS?”

This Thursday the Medical Society debated the motion: “Should Smokers and Drinker be denied treatment on the NHS?”

Main arguments for the motion were:

The World Health Organisation estimates that “in developed countries of North America, Europe and the Asian Pacific, at least one-third of all disease burden is attributed to these five risk factors: Tobacco, alcohol, blood pressure cholesterol and obesity.”

The smoker’s health problems are self-inflicted and other non-smoking taxpayers should not be left with the bill.

There is already a substantial amount of money being spent on advertising and initiatives to stop smoking, so more shouldn’t be spent on treatment.

Smoking should be banned so a lenient policy on treatment would be inconsistent.

Main arguments against the motion were:

Since smoking is not banned, how can treatment be legitimately denied to law-abiding citizens?

It is unfair to discriminate against a lifestyle choice, what about those who participate in dangerous sports? There are risks associated with everything in real life.

Banning smoking may lead to other restrictions on the freedom of citizens in the British society, and the state should not be given so much power.

Denial of care can undermined the physician’s relationship with the patient. Doctors are supposed to help people, not tell them how to live their lives.

The tax that smokers pay on cigarettes covers most of the healthcare costs of the NHS.

Somewhat worryingly, considering most in the room are to be future physicians, the motion won.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to the first ever post in the sparkly new AGGS medical society weblog.

For all intents and purposes this weblog shall function both as a journal and a forum for debate. It would be useful if you could check this address regularly as this is where details of upcoming sessions will be posted. Articles and debates will also be posted on a weekly bases.

Submission to the weblog is open to everyone. Please send articles and debate proposals to me at Esmaraldo@gmail.com.

It should be noted that articles are expected to be related to medicine, and should be of a reasonable length with evidence of sound research. Debate proposals should offer some initial arguments, though a simple unelaborated motion will also be accepted.

Participation is vital as an active society is a healthy society. So blow the dust off your keyboard and start typing. And if you need further incentive to write, articles and arguments can also be quite helpful for when you are preparing to apply to medical school. (whipsers UCAS)