Source: Yahoo!
A Japanese doctor has apologised after saying that people should smoke themselves to an early death to save the country money on elderly care, according to his hospital.
"It is clear that medical costs will increase if non-smoking spreads," the doctor said last week, according to Ida Hospital in Kawasaki City. "It's better that people smoke a lot and die early."
The man, whose name has been withheld, made the comment at a gathering of doctors, the hospital said.
"The hospital president has reprimanded him severely," said Tetsuya Yamamoto, a public relations official of the hospital.
"He said it was a careless remark and sincerely regrets it," the official said, adding that he was being sarcastic as the doctor is a smoker himself.
His comments angered activists.
"It was an outrageous remark that should not come from a doctor who is supposed to protect people's lives and health," Bungaku Watanabe, who heads an anti-smoking group, said in a statement.
If you listen to old radio show you will often hear ads for cigarettes and a line like "9 out of 10 doctors recommend XXXXXXXX for your smoking pleasure!"
But these days, you can't make statements like this. This is equivalent to:
"The country is poor because too many old people are living too long"
"The world is overpopulated because medical cures keep being invented"
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3 comments:
Hey, unless you're willing to shoot people on diagnosis, treating people for lung cancer and emphysema is *very* expensive. It's much cheaper to stay healthy. (More fun too.) So even for a cynical misanthrope his statement is just plain wrong.
Ever since childhood, I've always felt that smoking and the pursuit of cancer was an activity better left for... "the little people" :-)
The Pursuit of Cancer in Japan
Funny, I was under the impression that Japan was already trying to smoke itself to an early grave. I have never been anywhere with so much smoking!
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