Posted on 06/26/2012 12:11:10 PM PDT by fteuph
Hi. I'm Art Caplan, speaking to you from the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Today I want to talk about a very serious healthcare problem: irresponsible behavior on the part of a lot of Americans that isn't getting much attention, and that means you if you own a cat.
Many types of health costs are associated with cat ownership. We have allergies and asthma, people who wind up going to the hospital because they have allergic reactions either to the cat or the medicine they take, and there are all types of skin problems. The list goes on and on.
It is pretty clear that these miserable mousers are a huge healthcare problem. I started thinking about this when I saw a recent poll that was published in Forbes magazine that said that most Americans believe that there ought to be a tax on people who are overweight. They make a lifestyle choice and wind up causing more healthcare costs for everybody else due to the diseases and ailments linked to obesity, so Americans think they should pay more. By the way, their employers are starting to think that as well, that they should start to levy penalties and fines on people who are overweight at the workplace.
All of which takes me back to the issue of cats. If we are going to put a penalty on lifestyle choices, then shouldn't we penalize all lifestyle choices? If cats are really causing healthcare problems in the way that I think they do, then I think we need to be fair and tax cat owners.
If you look at the situation, there are probably 60 million or more Americans who own a cat. A lot of you out there choose to own more than one. Many of you have a cat and you actually keep children in the house near this cat, so these are all horrible, terrible, inappropriate, and immoral decisions.
Why? Well, we don't know exactly how much cat ownership costs, but it probably runs into billions of dollars every year in terms of allergy medicines that people take, hospitalizations that I mentioned earlier, and treating skin diseases. You are also exposing others who don't want to own a cat to cats because you can never get the cat dander and the cat allergen out of the rug, the furniture, and the carpet. Even if you move the cat, so to speak, the presence of the cat is left behind. This is a very burdensome thing, not just for people who live with cats but the rest of us who try to visit you or who want to move into a place where you have been.
Therefore, it is pretty clear -- probably beyond any ethical dispute -- that cat ownership is an irresponsible choice. Let me add that none of this applies to dogs. I own a dog. I think they are wonderful. In fact, there probably should be a tax break for dog owners. But for cats, looking at the kinds of costs that are involved and the irresponsibility that cat owners exercise in choosing to have them, I think we need to start thinking more seriously about ways to extend penalties if we are going to make personal responsibility a part of healthcare.
Cat owners, think hard about what I said. And those of you who are in favor of personal responsibility as a way to cut down healthcare costs, you know who I am talking about.
This is Art Caplan at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. I wish all of you a happy summer.
Second-hand cat.
No catting in enclosed, public spaces!
Nanny State Satire PING!
If you own and feed cats in your living space, they will eat you if you should remain immobile for some reason through a couple of their accustomed feeding times.
Do I get the Doberman Stamp of Approval?
Golly Gee, I’ve dreamed my whole life about getting the Doberman Stamp of Approval!
Thanks for the ping!
Uh, so you institute, over the strenuous objections of any rational observer, an evil collectivist plan to pay for people's healthcare (and before anyone thinks I've overlooked something, yes, insurance, as presently constituted, is but another evil collectivist scheme), then when the results suck, and the results of evil collectivist schemes tend to do, the solution is MORE evil collectivism??? Gosh, I hope you're not a doctor or engineer and I ever have the misfortune to require your "services". Or plumber or electrician. Fry cook.
My Mom tells me that when I was about two, she and Dad were visiting neighbors in their yard and when she looked over at me, the neighbor’s Great Dane had my whole face in his mouth! I still have a few very slight scars to show for it. They have no idea what prompted the “attack” but it freaked everyone out, of course. It happens.
Ren’s not allowed around the snakes.
I don’t want him harming the Ball Pythons or the Boas harming him.
No matter how small the risk may be I’m not willing to take it.
Alice is doing well.
He’s gotten comfortable in his new home, is eating greedily and has finally settled down to where he’s back to giving me a ‘smile’ when I open his door and pet him.
Still waiting for him to shed to see if that mystery goop comes off of his back.
I think he’s explored his home enough to give up on any future escape plans.
There’s no way out and he seems to have accepted that.
Amazing how many people are completely missing the point...:-)
Salamander your ignorant comment says all that needs to be said about you....go back to DU where you fit right in.
Sarchasm: the gap (chasm) of understanding between someone being sarcastic and the person who thinks they are serious.
I've never been bitten by anyone else's dog nor have any of my dogs been biters.
People bring their problem dogs to me to be ‘fixed’.
[not to mention that I'm instantly pinged *here* if somebody’s dog needs help]
Seems I'm doing something right.
Why would ~you~ be disappointed over “never hug your dog”?
During hurricane Katrina, you wanted ALL the displaced dogs suffering in the aftermath to be summarily KILLED, to be sure none of them ‘harassed’ any of the stray cats.
[who were doing quite well on their own, by the way]
You are a dog hater.
You would be perfectly happy if all dogs were killed.
You accuse me of being ideologically aligned with DU while you seem to dovetail perfectly with the desires of pETA.
How ironic.
Posting “Just sayin....” at the end of a statement not only negates the statement it is proof positive that the statement was made by a retard.
She should have kept her face away from the dog’s face.
Pity that some people cannot seem to grasp that simple concept.
I have, in the past, trained protection Dobes.
Had I treated them as “people” rather than working with their completely predictable canid instincts, I'm sure I would have been eaten a long time ago.
:)
I confess I ‘baby’ Odin a lot out of my love for him but the second he acts inappropriately in any situation, we instantly go into “master/dog” mode.
He gets no behavioral “breaks” just because I love him more than my own skin.
He is [as are all dogs] capable of doing damage and I cannot forget that for one nanosecond.
Making sure he never gets into trouble is -my- responsibility, not his.
He is incapable of making inerrant ‘human’ conscious moral/social decisions so I must make them for him, always.
The blame or celebration of whatever he is or does rests squarely on my shoulders.
“R U” ready to educate yourself and shuffle off that dark cloak of ignorance?
http://www.winknews.com/National-World/2012-04-10/Hug-your-dog-day-harmful-or-harmless
http://doggonesafe.blogspot.com/2010/12/dogs-dont-like-hugs-and-kisses.html
I’m bored of continually proving you wrong.
Why can’t you take it upon yourself to actively seek objective -facts- instead of constantly posting biased, hate-driven drivel?
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