An interesting article appeared on the BBC website yesterday (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6243705.stm). An association of British plastic surgeons is criticizing a company in the Czech Republic for running a lottery in which the grand prize is a cosmetic surgery package worth £6,000 (over $10,000 US), describing it as a marketing gimmick. I could rant for pages about medical marketing, medical tourism, or unrealistic media-driven notions of beauty but my brain is still oxygen-starved after my daily run ... according to the latest issue of Men's Health, I'm a little too fat thanks to my holiday overindulgence.
Borrowing a page from the environmental activist playbook, who often purchase hunting licenses for species like mountain lions but simply not use them, I have already bought a couple of lottery tickets. If I win, I plan to donate the prize package to someone truly needy, such as a burn victim, breast cancer survivor, or a child born with a cleft palate. If you'd like to do the same, you can buy your lottery tickets here: http://www.europa-international.net/
That's an interesting guerilla approach to the lottery - but are the medical standards up to date enough in the host country that it would be ethical to donate the prize to a truly needy person?
ReplyDelete(And I am oddly reminded of the last Grey's Anatomy episode, where someone is going to atone for their blood money by paying for medical procedures not covered by insurance companies...)