Posted on 12/26/2001 2:24:47 PM PST by Max McGarrity
Some (including me) say exposing children to secondhand smoke is child abuse.
Don't think I am bashing only Americans; I am also bashing Europeans. Only the reasons may be different.
Europeans smoke way too much. And they probably drink too much and still go behind a steering wheel. In some areas of health, they truly are not as enlightened as Americans.
After a transatlantic flight, first thing I notice in Germany is people's roughness. Many don't walk, they get air-born flailing their elbows. (God bless Americans for their friendly ways. Believe it or not, in my experience New Yorkers are less roughshod, not only in crammed places than the majority of Germans which offers a plausible explanation of my roughness with you in a recent opinion on health care). And no place to hide from those thick clouds of smoke in every corner of the airport.
Unhealthy living sure is one possible drawback in a system of universal health care; for the insurers to avoid incurring higher health care expenditures which would quickly get handed on to the insured health-unconscious folks should be made to pay higher insurance premiums. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any health care system in which this principle has indeed been put fully into action. For all of you to see, my altruism doesn't go far enough to condone the pool's co-financing the heavy smoking of people who foul the air I breath.
For all we know about the health effects of even minor exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking of parents anywhere in the house increases their children's risk of ear infections, asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia. Parents who refuse to give up smoking in the presence of their children clearly endanger the health of their children.
If you came to my practice, I would signal to you that it is old-fashioned child abuse what you are doing. So far I haven't reported yet a parent to child protective agencies for unabated smoking in their children's presence, but I may do so in the future. In fact, I feel guilty for not yet having done so. Those who think they can sue me for my aggressiveness better think twice; by federal law, anyone reporting real or perceived child abuse is protected against suits.
The July edition of "Pediatrics" reports a study in the Boston-Providence area where parental smoking was reduced by about one-third upon installation of nicotine alarms in the homes and subsequent motivational interviewing of parents, in which the goal was to avoid overt persuasion but instead provide information that might make people change their behavior.
Gadgets the preferred American way of troubleshooting to escape personal responsibility (other examples: the V-chip, radar detectors in cars, hidden cameras). All that is garbage; it's pure self-deception revealing a lack of will, commitment or capacity to head-on deal with a problem.
The solution is simple: If you can't kick your habit, smoke on the porch. It's that simple. And for those of you vacationing in North Dakota don't forget wrapping yourself in three layers of coats, slam muffs on your nose, ear and chin in January and tell your spouse to better check on you if you haven't reported back in more than 10 minutes.
Günther Rückl
L2355@mindspring.com
But a couple of silver bullets set me right...
I see you met, and traveled the road with my Grandparents
| It's a shame Mom & Dad don't have AIDS. |
When she went through the "change of life", I would have procured a suitcase nuke for her if it would have helped.
Clearly, Gunther, you never had a mother.
Anyone growing up in the fifties and sixties will no doubt remember it was E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E! It was in: restaraunts, buses, trains, stores, hospitals (yes!), virtually all offices and workplaces, wedding showers, baby showers, parent school functions, churches, pretty much anywhere but elevators. All boomers should, therefore, be dead by now.
Anyone remember going to a shoe store, with the floor-standing ashtrays between each three or four chairs?
Who of you has traveled to Japan? They all die really young over there, don't they?
I have a friend who had her first child in 1973, and clearly remembers sitting in the waiting room of her OB/GYN's office with a bunch of pregnant women, bellies out to "here," all puffing away, and the air in the waiting room was so thick you could barely see the other end of it, it was like a barroom. Her kid was fine, as was most of the others' I'm sure.
Not to say that smoking is a good thing, but do some thinking on the way it really was a generation ago, and it's apparant that there's something clearly missing from this complicated puzzle of a health issue.
Sounds like a free society to me.
My parents smoked Marlboros and as a kid...for many years I rode in the back seat with the windows rolled up smelling that smoke. Living in Buffalo, the wondows were rolled up 9 months out of the year. I remember getting sick from it often. About 10 years ago a Dr. told me I have asthma.
There is no way diplomatically to say what needs to be said: Mr. Günther Rückl, you are an idiot.
Having different rates based on the lifestyle of the insured would be good, but it would be no longer insurance.
The socialists who would redefine everything to satisfy the "feel good" touchy-feelie mentality just don't give up, but need to have a mental disconnect to ignore that their premium-according-to-risk hypocrisy would make certain 100% fatal disease coverage impossible.
It is really strange that the one preventable cause of death that costs more than all the others combined should never be mentioned: AIDS
How do we "know" this? Is apocryphal comjecture now the road to knowledge?
I know no such thing. In fact the only children that I have ever known with asthma had non-smoking parents.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.