Friday, November 10, 2006
Hauerwas and Do No Harm
The medical concept of Do No Harm is clearly false. Doctors do harm all the time, and if they were really obligated to hold to "do no harm" they would not do anything. Even something as seemingly benign as giving someone aspirin has the potential to cause harm. Everything doctors do might harm us, and in the end it's mostly a matter of playing the odds.
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The concept of "Do No Harm" is not limited to the medical feild. We studied it alot in development studies as well.
So if giving an aspirin has the small possibility of causing harm, lets let everyone suffer in pain. If the flu vaccine causes one in a million to become seriously ill, let hundreds die for the lack of it. If our intervention in an "third world" economy has unforseen consequences, leave them to suffer in poverty.
If doing something causes harm, then let's do nothing. It seems to be the solution most people have decided on anyway.
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