“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
This has bad written all over it:
A new Michigan law allows doctors to alert the Secretary of State if they think patients’ medical conditions make them unsafe behind the wheel.
That may be a welcome change for Michigan families whose elderly loved ones should hang up the car keys.
“It’s a big issue with the growing population of seniors,” said Roberta Habowski, who connects seniors with transportation services through the Southfield-based Area Agency on Aging. “It’s a difficult talk to have and not always well-received. How would you feel if I took away your car keys today?”
A doctor’s ability to alert the state might ease the burden for some families, she said, and it can offer a sense of authority and objectivity to a senior who faces a loss of independence.
Of course, this is for our own good. It’s for public safety:
Like laws in more than two dozen other states, Michigan’s new law shields doctors from liability if something goes wrong on the road — whether the doctor reports the patient or not, said Dr. Marianna Spanaki, a neurologist at Henry Ford Health System. Spanaki, who works with epilepsy patients, lobbied for the law.
All this makes it legally clear that concern for public safety can outweigh patient privacy at times, she said.
“This protects the patients themselves, public safety and physicians,” Spanaki said.
Why don’t they cut to the chase, wrap everyone in bubble wrap and stick us on a bus. Then we will all be “safe.”
After ObamaCare is sufficiently implemented with the government having a large hand in what goes on in doctors offices across the country, laws such as this will become the model for all kinds of new and exciting regulations. Imagine you are a heavy machine operator having trouble sleeping. You see your physician and he prescribes a strong sleep aid then informs you he is required by law to report this information to OSHA. I bet your next day at work will be an interesting one.
