Hypothetical scenario...

No, (and I support universal healthcare) 
How can they do that? Not only physically (I know its hypothetical but still)  but what right is there?

Yeah, that damn R word...but really they quit, how can you just come in and say no, you're going to treat these people? What if they refuse? Punish them? Arrest them and drive them to an office and make them treat people via gun point?
In this hypothetical scenario doing that would be pretty authoritarian....

I'd sign a deal with India and import a ton of doctors from there anyway 

The T wrote: Not a bad idea that last one!

O, I know

Of course when Rob created this scenario I assumed those doctors where the only ones in a hypothetical society without any other ones. So I voted yes. I maintain my vote. Opening other alternatives makes the choice less obvious for me though...

Yeah, I assumed that's what the intent was. But, I have to be the realist, sorry.
India already is sending so many doctors/people studying to be doctors over so in this scenario yeah, I'd just import more!

Not to derail the thread..
Assuming the US is the only country on Earth, yeah have to say no.
I was originally going to say fascist but changed it to authoritarian. Wouldn't want too sound like Mr Shields now.

Slartibartfast wrote: Sorry, but your questions raises other questions. If you've trained to be a doctor, what else would you be doing for a living instead?

IDK, maybe become a paiter or something?

Would you really want to be treated by a doctor who is forced to treat you?

The alternative would be death, so yeah

Also, what the hell is up with these "doctors" who aren't Medical Doctors?  Shouldn't they be called something else? Wait, I know, Witch Doctors.

WE shouldn't waste our intelligence with this, you know. Brazil has a horrible, horrible public healthcare and medicine is the number 1 university course on demand. On public hospitals doctors don't have medicines, equipment and sometimes they don't have the appropriate higine (no material to clean the stuff which comes out of sick people or new discartable material). And yet there are at least 30 times more people that are looking forward to become a doctor than are unioversity seats.

Sure there are some parts of it that have a personnel deficit, like pediatrics, but that could be solved passing a law or something.

It is really impressive how north americans demonize public healthcare when it is only obvious that everybody profit from having it. Don't you like having public streets? Don't you like having public security (AKA police, army, navy and airforce)? Don't you like having public schools? Don't you like having public parks? don't you like public transportation (only counts if you DO live in a city that has at least some decent public transporation system, like NY, for example)? Don't you like having whatever other public service that you have? If you do onlyone of the said examples, i've got bad news for you.

Besides, you will spend much less with health. Yes, you will pay more taxes, but paying 100 dollars mnore to de government to implement something that will actually help you whenever you need is better than paying 1000 to a healthcare plan that will deny treatment due to some ridiculous pre-existing condition (which will actually be ruled incostitutional here in Brasil in some years, when or if that becomes more common).


Edited by CCVP - September 26 2010 at 00:57

ExittheLemming wrote: In the medium term wouldn't the medical profession become an incredibly lucrative career path given the disparity between supply and demand or the industry's shortage of doctor's? (So why would the quitters choose to raise yaks in Azerbaijan or no-one want to enter the profession?)

In a free market where prices are allowed to adjust based on supply and demand, yes. But that is not the situation. Things like medicaid, medicare, frivolous malpractice lawsuits, med school quotas and the new Obamacare legislation severely distort the incentive structure of the market for medicine, which is why this hypothetical is not all that hypothetical at all, since lots of doctors are retiring rather than continue to practice under the new rules.

No. 

As far as I'm aware the original Hippocratic Oath is no longer sworn by all students on completion of their medical training, due to its outmoded language... many medical schools have formulated their own oaths instead.

Deleuze wrote: You know what's a fundamental right? FOOD. No feeding program? Don't sound like a moral plan to me, sounds more like a big pharma corp plan.

No, and you really wouldn't want to be treated by a conscript doctor either.

I thought about ir as if in the whole world there are not enough doctors and my answer is still NO !