Bad Medicine

Monday, January 28, 2008

http://ww2.heartandstroke.ca/Page.asp?PageID=33&ArticleID=6297&Src=blank&From=SubCategory

Another heart-warming (literally!) story via Canada’s Heart And Stroke foundation:

Traditional disclaimer: I have no axe to grind against The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada; to the best of my knowledge they do good work.

Traditional disclaimer: I have no axe to grind against the medical profession in general; they do good work. In particular over many years I have been well-served by many local GPs and specialists..

Non-Traditional disclaimer: I know this guy, Tim Morrison. I’ve met him and talked with him. If you’d like to know how/why I know him, I’d be pleased to tell you. Contact Me

The article linked (above) tells how medical brilliance saved Tim’s life. There’s more to the story. His parents had to make a decision when Tim was one week old; let nature take its course r allow the medical profession to have a shot, with the obvious benefit that even if they failed they might learn something. The parents had guts. And because of this, Tim survived and is a parent.

Richard Dawkins in “River Out Of Eden”, on the first page states “All organisms that have ever lived … can make the following proud claim: Not a single one of our ancestors died in infancy. They all reached adulthood … successfully copulating”.

If Tim’s defect-at-birth is genetic, then there is a chance that the DNA will be passed on to his children. Had Tim died at birth, the DNA would not have been passed on.

As a four-year old, I was treated for Perthe’s disease, successfully it seems (I’m now 61 years old). If Perthe’s disease is genetic in origin, then my two sons and one daughter may have inherited this defect. Had I not been treated, my awkwardness in leg bones might have caused me, in childhood, to stumble and fall under a truck/sabre-toothed tiger, or perhaps left me so ugly that no woman would have me. In those cases my genes would not have been passed on.

The more successful we are at treating infant problems, then the more successful we are at passing those problems on to the next generation.

Sounds like I’m getting awfully close to eugenics, doesn’t it?

Humans need to be aware that medical costs, already predicted to rise as population grows and doubles every thirty years or so, will be further taxed as people like me (one leg is 1 cm shorter than the other) arrive at old age with all the usual problems compounded by extra problems. I suppose my arthritic hips, when they come, will be complicated by 60+ years of uneven loading on my hip sockets.

Good medical treatment in the young stores up a cost down the road.

www.perthes.org.uk

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