The Privilege of Self-Medication

We are set to think of self-medication as bad, because we see so many problems with it. We should pause and consider a couple of other things, however.

First, the bad outcomes we see do not necessarily mean that the privilege of self-medication should be restricted. To restrict that privilege means that we think of ourselves as more than advisers and assistants. It means that we think of ourselves as controlling authorities. Where in Scripture has God authorized us as having any controlling authority over our patients?

Second, we have no good denominator for the dangers of self-medication. That is, we see those who have problems, but we are not nearly as aware of those who do not have problems. Every treatment has a certain failure rate. That is, we have a numerator of failures sitting over a denominator of all treatments. Unless we know the denominator we cannot know the fraction. If we do not know the fraction, we cannot know the rate. If we do not know failure rates, complication rates, and success rates, we are presumptuous to deny people by law the ability to decide for themselves.

We tend in medicine to practice on the numerator kind of information. We make decisions based on partial information. Patients need to be able to "vote with their feet." It is a check on us "experts." We, too, have fallen natures, with pride and desires for power and money. We want to have our way.


Excerpt from "Pharmacy and Medical Interventions"