The Slippery Slope of Medical Coercion

“One who uses coercion is guilty of deliberate violence. Coercion is inhuman.”

–Mahatma Gandhi

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. (…) those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

–CS Lewis

Diligence in Healthcare

The whole world has been obsessed with medicine and healthcare for two years. How could we not be with an unpredictable virus floating around out there? People with chronic illnesses such as ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease are more attune to healthcare and always seek the best treatment that works for them. And that’s a good thing! You are your own best advocate! 

Unfortunately, some fail to understand the importance of having choices when it comes to healthcare and the treatments that are available. If you have a chronic illness you know that often times it’s a matter of trial and error. At the same time, some treatments make us wary due to the potential adverse reactions (some of them serious). This is why informed consent is vital in patient care.

Furthermore, it is good, healthy even, to have a certain degree of skepticism when it comes to healthcare and medicine. Doctors and medicines are not a perfect science. Moreover, history is rife with well-intentioned medical practices and treatments that went horribly awry. In fact, all you have to do is take a look and you’ll find some pretty horrifying things.

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

First, let me say that I am extremely glad that I live in this day and age. Ulcerative colitis is treated with a plethora of different medications and surgeries. Conversely, did you know that they used to treat ulcerative colitis with a lobotomy? Yes! It’s true!!! 

In fact, about 60+ years ago, doctors in Oklahoma began what they considered a new standard in the treatment for bowel problems: the lobotomy. In one study, five UC patients underwent a procedure that involved drills and ice picks to cut into their brains. Two of the patients died within a year. The other three outcomes are lost in history somewhere. It sounds like a horror-movie, but it’s not. Lobotomies for UC actually happened at one point in time.

The saddest part is that many lobotomies performed were done without informed consent. A man named Walter Freeman helped develop the “ice pick” method. He also performed between 2,500 and 4,000 of these surgeries with no formal surgical training. If Freeman couldn’t get the consent of a patient, he would attempt to get the consent of family members. If anyone who had agreed to the procedure tried to back out at the last minute, Freeman would have them sedated and do it anyway. Even if lobotomies were done with noble intentions, they were still immoral and unethical.

Thalidomide: the Morning Sickness Miracle Cure!…Wait.

Thalidomide is another medical practice that ended up going horribly wrong. Originally the drug was used as a sedative, but in the late 1950’s doctors began prescribing it to pregnant women to treat morning sickness. Unfortunately, it took five years for people to figure out that the drug, while giving relief to women, also caused severe birth defects on their developing babies. The defects ranged from deformed limbs, deformed organs, brain abnormalities, poor hearing, and eye problems. 

The Tuskegee Experiments

Another horrific (and in my opinion, the worst of all three mentioned) medical practice involves the Tuskegee Experiments. The CDC documents a study working with the Tuskegee Institute in 1932. It began as a study to record the natural history of syphilis. This study involved 600 black men. 399 of these men had syphilis. Participants in this study did not receive informed consent. The researchers told the men that they were being treated for “bad blood.”

Penicillin, which quickly became widely available, was the main treatment available for syphilis in 1943. The participants in the Tuskegee Experiments, however, were not offered the treatment. Instead, the men were given placebos, aspirin and mineral supplements.

Research, A Fight To the Death…

The researchers told local physicians not to treat the participants because according to History.com, they wanted to “track the disease’s full progression.” No effective care was provided for these men who went blind, ended up insane, or died. A venereal disease investigator found out about the experiments in the mid-1960’s. When he expressed his concerns about it, instead of shutting the project down, the officials opted to continue the studies. You can read more about the history of the Tuskegee Experiments here. 

The Slippery Slope of Medical Coercion

As you can see, the practice of medical experiments, treatments, and medications are not clean and pure as the wind-driven snow. This is only a handful of some of the questionable medical practices throughout history! Don’t even get me started on female genital mutilation or the medical practices of Josef Mengele!

Medical Choice > Medical Coercion

Again, forcing people to undergo treatments or coercing them to take a medication is totally unethical. As individuals endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, we should all be given a choice.

If our medical freedom of choice is taken away, we will be led down a terror-filled road of unintended consequences. I recall this quote from CS Lewis: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” In other words, forcing a product or medication on someone “for the greater good” is tyranny. 

All this said, around the world today we are facing medical coercion for the treatment of a stubborn and sometimes deadly virus. Governments around the globe require their citizens to take a certain treatment. If you don’t, you’re fired–or worse! You’re ostracized from society altogether. Look at the history of medicine. Forced medical practices don’t end well for anyone. 

As patients living with incurable diseases, this should frighten you. Moreover, if we aren’t careful, we will slowly become like Nazi Germany when innocent people were deemed as “biological threats” to the nation’s “health.” Sound familiar? Remember, the reasons people give for being wary of medical treatments are valid. Let us learn from history instead of repeating it by respecting other people’s choices in medical care. Because at the end of the day, it’s none of our business anyway!