Healthcare can't be denied to those even on worst diets
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Of course JC Wilcox is right to say that we must take responsibility for our own health, as far as we can, and it is certainly exasperating when publicly funded and sometimes over-stretched health services are provided to those who have fallen ill due to
I suppose he has in mind the subsidised and taxpayer funded healthcare system in Thailand, and the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, but as far as I am aware the NHS has a legal obligation to treat the sick, and a moral duty too. Furthermore, it is surely not possible in all cases to attribute illness to diet alone. There are many other potential factors involved, such as genetics, over which we have no control. From a moral standpoint, refusing treatment to someone on the basis of their diet could be a life or death decision, if the person concerned was unable to pay for private treatment. In the UK at least, I am sure neither public opinion nor Parliament would countenance that.
As regards those of us who “boast about a lifetime breaking all the rules smoking, imbibing and indulging”, well, my reference in a previous letter to a longish life spent consuming meat and dairy products wasn't boastfulness, just a plain statement of fact. I have never smoked, imbibe moderately, and enjoy a balanced diet, and just like countless millions of others who do the same, I am enjoying a long and healthy life.
Mr Wilcox makes some good points, but as usual he just goes too far. Does he really never enjoy the occasional cream cake, bar of chocolate or butter croissant? Even a long life is too short to miss out on the odd guilty pleasure.
Robin Grant
Bangkok
