July 2, 2007
Rx
Blog friend Perry Eidlebus got an ear infection (hope you're better!) and hit on a government-control topic that predated my political interest in health care: prescription control of compounds that have a low opportunity for abuse.
The doctor prescribed 800 mg doses of Motrin, Amoxycillin tablets, and Neomycin/Polymyxin B drops. Now, in a true free market system, I could have bought the stronger painkillers and antibiotics myself -- on Friday, which would have killed the infection early on and saved me unnecessary pain last night. Taking antibiotics early would have also saved the health care system the hundreds of dollars that my ER visit cost.
My wife used to teach day care and get routine bronchial infections. She knew when she got them and knew what worked. I was always astonished that an MD had to sign off. I know that some will claim the existence of superbugs if antibiotics are overused. Perry makes a good point about those who deny us choices because we're not smart enough to handle risk.
Even if you had to keep antibiotics as prescription. I'm calling a Doctor today to get a Potassium supplement renewed for somebody. I had a hassle when I was fitted for an Ankle Foot Orthotic I wear (A giant ugly, uncomfortable plastic brace from under my knee to my toes). I said "what -- are all the high school kids going to be getting these?"
I can see them in their black T-Shirts and baggy trousers: chugging Amoxycillin, snorting Potassium tablets and skateboarding in their Orthotics. Good thing the government is there to protect us.
Pharmaceuticals
Posted by jk at July 2, 2007 11:06 AM
Strange as it sounds, economic interventionists should want government policies that encourage "superbugs." Why? Because of the old Keynesian mantra: "It creates employment."
The more superbugs, the more the pharmaceutical companies will have to create new drugs, and the more jobs (at the plants and at government bureaus) will result. Bastiat had his "Broken window fallacy" and "Candlestick makers' petition." Extending them to modern times, we have the "Runny nose fallacy," since if we were all constantly sick, it would create jobs for doctors, nurses, orderlies, drug makers, government bureaucrats, and all the people who must make goods and provide services for them. Right?
Antibiotic-resistant strains are a growing problem, but if there were ever one thing to learn about the several thousand years of human civilization, it's that we tend to find ways to innovate. We find a wider river, we build a longer bridge. We find a deeper-hiding terrorist, we create a bigger Daisy Cutter. We find a new bug, we make a new drug.
Besides, breeding new resistant strains doesn't come solely from "overuse." The patient likely won't see a doctor until it gets bad enough to warrant a visit, perhaps days after the infection first begins. A broad-spectrum treatment, sufficiently early, could well kill off the bacteria before it has time to mutate in a human host and produce descendants with resistance. And if the bacteria already had genes giving it resistance, then the drug wouldn't have mattered anyway. That's why there would have been no harm done in the end had I taken antibiotics myself on Friday. If it didn't help, then I'd try something else, or go see a doctor.
Besides, I thought economic interventionists believed in pragmatism, in trying something new when the previous method failed?
Strange as it sounds, economic interventionists should want government policies that encourage "superbugs." Why? Because of the old Keynesian mantra: "It creates employment."
The more superbugs, the more the pharmaceutical companies will have to create new drugs, and the more jobs (at the plants and at government bureaus) will result. Bastiat had his "Broken window fallacy" and "Candlestick makers' petition." Extending them to modern times, we have the "Runny nose fallacy," since if we were all constantly sick, it would create jobs for doctors, nurses, orderlies, drug makers, government bureaucrats, and all the people who must make goods and provide services for them. Right?
Antibiotic-resistant strains are a growing problem, but if there were ever one thing to learn about the several thousand years of human civilization, it's that we tend to find ways to innovate. We find a wider river, we build a longer bridge. We find a deeper-hiding terrorist, we create a bigger Daisy Cutter. We find a new bug, we make a new drug.
Besides, breeding new resistant strains doesn't come solely from "overuse." The patient likely won't see a doctor until it gets bad enough to warrant a visit, perhaps days after the infection first begins. A broad-spectrum treatment, sufficiently early, could well kill off the bacteria before it has time to mutate in a human host and produce descendants with resistance. And if the bacteria already had genes giving it resistance, then the drug wouldn't have mattered anyway. That's why there would have been no harm done in the end had I taken antibiotics myself on Friday. If it didn't help, then I'd try something else, or go see a doctor.
Besides, I thought economic interventionists believed in pragmatism, in trying something new when the previous method failed?
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at July 2, 2007 4:27 PM | What do you think? [1]