There is another serious problem with what Dr. Griesz-Brisson has written. Surgeons and other operating room personnel routinely spend from minutes to many hours wearing masks during procedures. Most do so for decades without developing clinical evidence of neurodegenerative brain symptoms/disease.
As written, her comments are an exaggeration and should be corrected. If not, the logical implication is that no one should wear a surgical mask for any medical/surgical procedure. Maybe she wishes to actually make such a proposal. If so, other relevant issues need to be addressed. As written however, and without further discussion, her observations and apparent recommendations are incomplete and misleading. Having said that, I admire her willingness to discuss the fact that wearing masks for alleged pandemics is not only pointless but at least potentially harmful. These comments are made in an attempt to be educational and instructive and in no way are meant to calumniate or otherwise impugn the motives of the doctor.
There is an enormous moral/ethical problem with the following paragraph however, which is something she apparently either wrote or said and therefore, we must assume, is her opinion (unless she repudiates/corrects it):
"An absolute medical contraindication in medicine means that this drug, this treatment, this method or measure should not be used - it is not allowed to be used. In order to force an entire population to use an absolute medical contraindication, there must be clear and serious reasons for this, and the reasons must be presented to competent multidisciplinary and independent bodies to be checked and approved."
There can never be any reason whatsoever to "force an entire population to use an absolute medical contraindication." To do so is a violation of personal free will and the well-established principle of autonomy. All legitimate medical/ethical codes insist upon complete informed consent and the choice to either submit to or reject any proposed treatment/procedure.
It is also highly immoral to administer something that is absolutely medically contraindicated even if the intended recipient has been completely/properly informed and given consent and that is because it is known to be harmful. Part of the Hippocratic oath is "to do no harm." All ethically permissible medical treatments/procedures must be for the benefit of the patient (principle of beneficence) and must avoid harm (principle of non-malfeasance).
These principles apply not only to so-called experimental drugs or procedures but to established ones as well. Any "laws", orders or other "official pronouncements" that attempt to circumvent these principles are morally illegitimate and must be rejected.
There is another serious problem with what Dr. Griesz-Brisson has written. Surgeons and other operating room personnel routinely spend from minutes to many hours wearing masks during procedures. Most do so for decades without developing clinical evidence of neurodegenerative brain symptoms/disease.
As written, her comments are an exaggeration and should be corrected. If not, the logical implication is that no one should wear a surgical mask for any medical/surgical procedure. Maybe she wishes to actually make such a proposal. If so, other relevant issues need to be addressed. As written however, and without further discussion, her observations and apparent recommendations are incomplete and misleading. Having said that, I admire her willingness to discuss the fact that wearing masks for alleged pandemics is not only pointless but at least potentially harmful. These comments are made in an attempt to be educational and instructive and in no way are meant to calumniate or otherwise impugn the motives of the doctor.
Thank you for this post.
There is an enormous moral/ethical problem with the following paragraph however, which is something she apparently either wrote or said and therefore, we must assume, is her opinion (unless she repudiates/corrects it):
"An absolute medical contraindication in medicine means that this drug, this treatment, this method or measure should not be used - it is not allowed to be used. In order to force an entire population to use an absolute medical contraindication, there must be clear and serious reasons for this, and the reasons must be presented to competent multidisciplinary and independent bodies to be checked and approved."
There can never be any reason whatsoever to "force an entire population to use an absolute medical contraindication." To do so is a violation of personal free will and the well-established principle of autonomy. All legitimate medical/ethical codes insist upon complete informed consent and the choice to either submit to or reject any proposed treatment/procedure.
It is also highly immoral to administer something that is absolutely medically contraindicated even if the intended recipient has been completely/properly informed and given consent and that is because it is known to be harmful. Part of the Hippocratic oath is "to do no harm." All ethically permissible medical treatments/procedures must be for the benefit of the patient (principle of beneficence) and must avoid harm (principle of non-malfeasance).
These principles apply not only to so-called experimental drugs or procedures but to established ones as well. Any "laws", orders or other "official pronouncements" that attempt to circumvent these principles are morally illegitimate and must be rejected.