| 2005 Summer Seminar |
—Madeleine Cosman, J.D., Ph.D.
Course Description:
Medical altruism requires Americans to sacrifice their money and their lives for the poor, the sick, the disabled, and even illegal aliens. While medical insurance rates skyrocket and medical care is rationed, Americans pay for free care for illegal aliens. The pernicious "Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act" demands that physicians and hospitals treat for free (or face fines up to $50,000 per incident) anyone who comes to an Emergency Room whether or not able to pay or whether or not "legal". Hospitals close because of bankruptcy (84 California hospitals were shuttered between 1993 and 2004), and medicine lurches into socialism by the sacrifice of our best to benefit the poor, hungry masses yearning to turn our compassion against us. Illegal Immigration's assault on American medicine is excellent opportunity to apply Objectivism's metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics to a dramatic, compelling life and death problem. The choice for many Americans is life with Medical Objectivism or death by Medical Altruism. Dr. Cosman is a medical lawyer who has written essays on medical malpractice past and present since 1968, and discovered the earliest medical malpractice insurance (in 15th century English documents). Her forthcoming book for 2005, Who Owns Your Body?: Doctors and Patients Behind Bars, considers the detrimental effects of medical malpractice litigation on free-market, patient-centered medicine. (The inspiration for this talk is TOC member Merlin Jetton.)
Schedule: Monday, 11:30 - 12:45 PM
Track: Political/Cultural Commentary