People and their decisions

[system]

Did you guys click the link I posted about the surgeon with Tourette’s syndrome? http://members.tripod.com/~oliversacks/sur.html I think this proves Dave’s point quite well. The guy is a surgeon and a pilot.

When Bennett first came to Branford, he was regarded, he thought, with a certain suspicion. “A surgeon who twitches! Who needs him? What next?” There were no patients at first, and he did not know if he could make it there, but gradually he won the town’s affection and respect. His practice began to expand, and his colleagues, who had at first been startled and incredulous, soon came to trust and accept him, too, and to bring him fully into the medical community.

One sign of this ease, paradoxically, was that he felt free to Tourette with them–to touch or tap them gently with his fingertips, or, on two occasions when he was sharing a sofa, to suddenly twist on his side and tap his colleague’s shoulder with his toes–a practice I had observed in other Touretters. Bennett is somewhat cautious with his Tourettisms on first acquaintance, and conceals or downplays them until he gets to know people. When he first started working at the hospital, he told me, he would skip in the corridors only after checking to be sure that no one was looking; now when he skips or hops no one gives it a second glance.

And Bennett, though superbly skilled, a natural aviator, is like a child at play. Part of Tourette’s, at least, is no more than this–the release of a playful impulse normally inhibited or lost in the rest of us. The freedom, the spaciousness obviously delight Bennett; he has a carefree, boyish look I rarely saw on the ground.

[system]

Different diseases. Controllable movement vs uncontrollable. For that matter, you’d risk discovering a tic that caused ‘poking the scapel repeatedly against the patient’s forebrain while yelling shit crap fuck’ against the person’s right to be a surgeon?
I did read the link, wondering all the while if it was cut from the pages of national lampoon. Obviously the concentrated focus overcomes the outbursts, in this subject, with this disease, at that point in it’s progress.
The thread was questioning the competency tests, are they the same for everyone? The process can be slow and warped, for godsakes my sister & I had to ‘steal’ Dad’s vehicles to stop him driving. It took months to get the MVB with doctor’s support letters, and they demanded he get retested several months later. In the meantime 'those crazy Toyotas kept attacking him, the other arm of MVB, ICBC has boosted his premiums to $8500 and the agents almost clapped when we ‘borrowed’ the cars and had them reinsured for our use up north.
If you want a society that accomodates everyone, you have to have confidence in the individual, in the competency testing, and in the enforcement/review system. Take a walk down Granville Street sometime and you will have none whatsoever, so what do you propose?

[system]

[quote=“herbie_popnecker”]
I did read the link, wondering all the while if it was cut from the pages of national lampoon.[/quote]

I first heard of this doctor on a CBC interview. He is probably not “the best surgeon” but he is well respected. I think he is retired now.

[quote=“herbie_popnecker”]
Obviously the concentrated focus overcomes the outbursts, in this subject, with this disease, at that point in it’s progress.[/quote]

So if our rim driving guy can overcome everything else and focus on flying then what’s the problem?
I’m with Dave on this. If the competency exams are there, and he passes them, then he shouldn’t be discriminated against.
However, if what Tang alludes too as being some kind of discrimination turns out to be true, then Tang himself should be worried about the safety habits of the school instructors.
In the end, this guy would need to get a job and with a record of reckless driving, how many employers would let him fly their planes?

[system]

@herbie_popnecker

The thread was questioning the competency tests, are they the same for everyone? If you want a society that accomodates everyone, you have to have confidence in the individual, in the competency testing, and in the enforcement/review system. Take a walk down Granville Street sometime and you will have none whatsoever, so what do you propose?

Ahh…now we are getting to the crux of the issue. Do we have faith in the competency exams and are they the same for everyone? My only response to this is that we have to educate ourselves about those we are seeking services from. Sometimes this is practical, for example needing the services of a doctor or contractor. Other times it may be impossible, such as when we decide to fly on an airplane. But I think we need to have faith in the system. Without faith in the system, where does that leave us? Sitting in our house never leaving? Do we get burned from poor service? Sure, and if possible we use the courts to seek damages. One can come up with a large number of ways to get around the “competenies” – One can order their Ph.D. via the mail, get any number of false credentials from shady characters.

[system]

Exactly, and the seeds of doubt in our system are already sewn. We’re the people who spent two generations ensuring in every way that nuclear death didn’t fall from the skies, * and didn’t even think of crashing a 747 into a building*. We were even looking at the sky and missed that.
When 2 people, with the same last name, address and phone number can still go to adjacent rooms in the same welfare office and both walk home with a check, and these are the people who decide rules of competency it’s somewhat disconcerting.
Thanks guys, I have a ‘romantic holiday flight’ next month and now I’ll have to supress thoughts of the captain startled by a lightning bolt or even a cloud in the shape of the Holy Virgin, doing the funky chicken while we’re all screaming and baggage flies around.

[system]

@herbie_popnecker

Thanks guys, I have a ‘romantic holiday flight’ next month and now I’ll have to supress thoughts of the captain startled by a lightning bolt or even a cloud in the shape of the Holy Virgin, doing the funky chicken while we’re all screaming and baggage flies around.

Wow, you still fly!? That is brave. I’m sure you will have a wonderful time on your tropical island (romantic holiday place).

[system]

Flying is the safest form of transportation.

[system]

good one Dave :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: