Apotemnophilia is a disorder and the people who feel they have to suffer from it should be eligible for health insurance in the future because I believe eventually this disorder with be in the DSM-IV. It should be in the DSM-IV because it is clearly a psychological condition that consists of a chemical imbalance in one’s brain.
These people should be eligible for health care because then they could possibly go through treatment to prevent them from causing more harm to their bodies.
I know it is a tough argument to make that people who do harm to themselves should be eligible to be covered, but what about people who try to commit suicide and then have to go to a psychiatric hospital. Aren’t they still covered?
Pinker says the first law of behavioral genetics is that all behavioral traits are partially heritable. I partially agree with this because there has to be some genetic make up that strongly contributes to the complicated actions of the few people who have this disorder.
It is very difficult to make sense of this disorder because it is so complicated. The environment a person is in contributes to this disorder significantly. So much so that I would say its half the genes of a person who is an Apotemophilia and half the culture they surround themselves with.
Everything keeps coming back to our discussion the first week of class. The key question for me was: is this ethical? In a free country people should be able to do what they want with their bodies, but doctors should not assist them. One possible solution would be to make it a law that you can't cut off your limbs.
In conclusion, with the power of the internet there is no way to stop this fire from keeping on burning. Health insurance companies should cover these people because it is clearly a psychiatric disorder that should require treatment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree that both genes and the environment have influences on whether a person becomes an apotemnophiliac or not. However, I disagree with the fact that insurance should cover it. I feel that if they did cover it some apotemnophiliacs would take advantage of it and want more limbs removed and paid for by insurance.
ReplyDeleteMore importantly, I feel that if a law were made saying that a person can't cut off their limbs it would raise all kinds of problems. Who would enforce it? What would the penalty be? Who would pay for the enforcement? Everyone? Just some thoughts...