The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

Can I have the
freedom to buy
medicine I need, even
though government
has not approved it?
Alan Burris
Chapter 33 • Doctrinaire
Brainstorming
• Who owns your life?
• Does it matter who decides on, or pays for, a
doctor?
• What is the difference between licensing and
certifi cation?
• Who should decide whether or not you use a
risky medical treatment?
• Is competition and information valuable to
good medicine?
• Examples?
• Ethical issues?
Commentary
In this 21st century the medical community
is moving slowly away from a narrow view
of the medical guild and is exploring both
new and ancient fi elds of medicine with
benefi cial effect. Unfortunately, national and
international governments still promote the idea
that governments own people’s lives and must,
therefore, make decisions for them.
If people own their lives, then they must be
free to choose their own advisors on all matters
concerning health.
Isn’t this the way it is today? No. Government
offi cials have outlawed many kinds of healers
that are not approved by the orthodox medical
establishment. Politically infl uential members
of this establishment hope to restrict options
and thus channel people towards their member
practitioners. So they have obtained laws to
prohibit philosophies of medical education and
practice of which they disapprove.
Don’t people need to be protected from
charlatans? Yes, but the best way to protect
against medical charlatans is through competition
and choice, not through monopoly and the force
of political charlatans. After all, there are honest
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