Hospitals - Stop Blowing Smoke!
I don’t think anyone is going to dispute that there are consequences to smoking or that there are consequences to everything we put into our bodies including many prescriptions which are later banned because of “undesirable outcomes”. So I wonder have these hospitals eliminated all potato chips, Danishes, ice cream, soda, caffeine, etc from the premises in an attempt to prevent obesity and diabetes. Or maybe they should focus on hospital infection rates since there were as many of those last year as people dying of smoking related diseases.
Imposing your beliefs on others is nothing new. Hitler did it in Germany, Bush in Iraq, the Christians and the Muslems have been fighting in the Middle East as far back as I can remember. You might think these are extreme examples but they all have a common thread – intolerance always leads to hate and the only way to stop hate is to teach acceptance and tolerance.
On the surface a smoking ban is very politically correct but what about the people that will not seek prompt treatment because they don’t want to be deprived of their “smoky treats” or those that will not seek treatment at all due to the sheer anxiety of being separated from the one thing that helps them cope. On top of that people withdrawing from nicotine can get very nasty; but I guess since the nurses will have to deal with the patients and not the administrators – who cares?
Ultimately the only authority a private business has to enforce these rules is asking someone to leave their property which will result in gowned patients dragging their IV drips out to Rathton Road in the rain, snow and cold like high school children sneaking cigarettes in the bathrooms.
If the hospital truly wanted to do something productive they should put their money where their mouth is and offer free addiction therapy treatment for anyone desiring to change.
Imposing your beliefs on others is nothing new. Hitler did it in Germany, Bush in Iraq, the Christians and the Muslems have been fighting in the Middle East as far back as I can remember. You might think these are extreme examples but they all have a common thread – intolerance always leads to hate and the only way to stop hate is to teach acceptance and tolerance.
On the surface a smoking ban is very politically correct but what about the people that will not seek prompt treatment because they don’t want to be deprived of their “smoky treats” or those that will not seek treatment at all due to the sheer anxiety of being separated from the one thing that helps them cope. On top of that people withdrawing from nicotine can get very nasty; but I guess since the nurses will have to deal with the patients and not the administrators – who cares?
Ultimately the only authority a private business has to enforce these rules is asking someone to leave their property which will result in gowned patients dragging their IV drips out to Rathton Road in the rain, snow and cold like high school children sneaking cigarettes in the bathrooms.
If the hospital truly wanted to do something productive they should put their money where their mouth is and offer free addiction therapy treatment for anyone desiring to change.
posted by cityguy at 2:10 PM
1 Comments:
Dear City Guy,
My Wife works at Wellspan. The hospital offers programs to their employees for smoking cessation. It includes someone assigned to them by the hospital for support. The prescription patches and drugs are offered to the employeees for treatment at a discount. This was not mentioned in your article. The Hospital administration is taking steps to assist the employees in smoking cessation. No it is not completely free and I agree it should be if Administrators were truly concerned for their employees health, but at least something is being offered.
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