This lecture demonstrates why government control of medicine violates the nature of man on the deepest philosophical levels, and why bureaucratic rule necessarily destroys the practice of medicine. The issue is deeper than the moral and political violation of individual rights. Government coercion in medicine constitutes a vicious attack against every doctor’s nature as a thinking, acting being.

A patient facing a life-threatening disease depends upon the goal-directed, reality-focused actions of doctors—who pursue life-long careers by defeating the diseases that infect patients. Government control of medicine undercuts every doctor’s ability to evaluate, choose and pursue rational goals. In the end, government medicine attacks man at the most fundamental levels: in his use of his mind, his judgments about reality, his ethical decisions, and the actions he takes. We must fight for the freedom of doctors as if our lives depended on it—because they do.