OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS

Following my last post on the issue of hospital smoking bans, let’s contrast the opinion of a retired Irish doctor with the opinion of some of the more callous professionals who blinded by their personal ambitions, zeal and biases, have forgotten what the ‘’first do no harm’’ Hippocratic oath stands for:
 
Excerpts from:  Clampdown on hospital smoking

‘’ I have looked in dismay at the degradation heaped on smokers in our hospitals in recent years. Forced to huddle under an outdoor lean-to roof for a drag on a desperately needed cigarette, often with intravenous drips in their arms and frequently wearing only pyjamas and a dressing gown on a cold, wet day, now even this solace is to be denied to them.

Lepers in the dark ages received greater care and more love than our enlightened age allows to the poor, old, ill smoker.

If Minister for Health Dr James Reilly is worth his salt, he will overturn this appalling ruling immediately. Indeed he will go further and require hospitals to provide safe, warm and properly ventilated indoor smoking rooms for those sufferers who need them.

After all, even smokers are still our sisters and brothers.’’