Life expectancy gap in U.S. widens to 20 years due to "truly alarming" health disparities, researchers say

[Bluetus]

38. I didn't take the hippocratic oath. :)

And I respect all the medical people who do honor that code, regardless of a person's ethnicity, education level, economic status, or tendency toward self-destruction. However, we also learned there were hundreds of thousands of people in the medical profession who didn't give a shit about protecting people during COVID.

Personally, I would have a lot of trouble going the extra mile for a person who spent a lifetime making all the worst decisions, bringing on their own demise or bad fortune.

On a serious note, if we could set aside the ethical questions for just a moment, I do think there is a legitimate argument that there is a significant risk in intervening with people who are too foolish to come in from the rain. I mean, evolution depends on those with the better assets (judgment, intelligence, whatever) having a higher survival rate. When we intervene, we really are messing with evolutionary process. I know medical ethics don't leave any room for such thinking, but I do believe it is worth pondering, in the same sense that one ponders whether the beat of a single butterfly could alter the course of the universe.