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8 November 2015

Mandatory

After a prominent pharmaceutical firm produces a cure for stupidity, a rather ordinary and rather upset man undergoes a series of unhappy discussions with his insurance company and his doctor. Both are requiring him to take the cure on the grounds that he is not of sound enough mind to make an informed refusal of his own volition.

Of course, stupidity is probably not a medical condition, and there is unlikely to appear a cure. However, there are such conditions considered illnesses by most and character traits by some. When it comes to matters of the mind, and particularly of its soundness, who has the right to decide what medical treatment may be applied? If and when medicine gains the power to alter a person’s inner world, to permanently transform their very perspective of existence, who deserves to make that call if not the patient only? I cannot propose an answer, merely pose the question.