no m.d., no prescription pad
Here’s another one of my BusinessWeek essays inspired by real events, an argument in favor of holding TV talk show hosts liable for promoting quack medicine and harming audience members. Yes I know, we should allow freedom of speech in all media formats rather than threaten people with lawsuits and trust the viewers to know that talk show hosts probably don’t have medical training and we should take all their advice not only with a grain of salt but an entire pound. But the fact remains that toying with people’s health is dangerous and there’s a good reason why we send people through a decade of rigorous training before they’re given the right to see patients and give them medical advice. And there’s a reason why we sometimes take that right away. I don’t see why people on TV should be exempt from those rules.
Anyone who gives full weight to the medical advice of a talk show host is just going to be like that anyway. We live in a society where taking responsibility for one’s actions is not greatly encouraged.
In my experience, some doctors can be just as wackadoodle. I’ve met a few physicians and been in proximity of friends who’ve met others who were absolutely, off-the-charts, out of their minds and had no more business practicing medicine than I do!