^^ Essentially agreed. I think the sticking point inherent to your description is that dentists only deal with teeth, in which about the worst case scenario is pain and/or an extraction. This is a set of circumstances we are willing to accept on a societal level, and so the risk of that outcome is placed upon the individual.

On the other hand, physicians regularly deal with injury and illness which can and does result in death. Our society strongly supports the notion that, when faced with death, regardless of the circumstances which produced such a situation, access to any and all desired medical interventions is essentially a right. Accordingly, there is the requisite notion that the risk of such an outcome is not placed upon the individual, but upon the society as a whole - "social contract" territory.

The problem is things start to unravel when physicians are placed in the "dentist" role professionally and economically, but are expected to play the "physician" role, as a matter of ethics, when it is convenient to society.

4/6/2011 6:51:08 PM