Isn't it wonderful that Western society has transcended its
once-primitive social views that those with mental illness may not fully
share in all the aspirations and entitlements of everyone else without
the trauma of psychological problems? We no longer deny the equal rights
of people suffering from deep depressions requiring clinical care. To
them we say, your aspirations are legitimate, and we will not stand in
the way of your achieving your dreams of entitlement.
And then there is the emotional trauma of a family anxious about the welfare and well-being of their loved ones, much alleviated by greater society's social kindness and timely interventions that once denied people with histories of mental illness their full involvement in all the opportunities to achieve satisfaction in their views of themselves as fully functioning members of society with recognized capabilities and the resolve, bolstered by new enabling laws and forgivingly helpful authorities and health professionals to permit them to seek fulfillment in a profession that appeals to them.
Even though the young man whose morbidly suicidal dissatisfaction with his life and possible rage at the world had experienced earlier and prolonged periods of psychological dysfunction requiring isolation from society and significant professional medical assistance, he was deemed suitable to place the lives of hundreds of people in his capable hands. For he demonstrated proficiency in his craft of managing the flight of modern aircraft, passenger aircraft in particular since this is where he sought his future, as an airlines pilot in one of the world's most socially progressive cultures, and one of the world's most safe and reliable airlines. He had mastered the technicalities of flight, but, alas, not the malign functioning of his disturbed mind.
His parents found comfort in the thought that their disturbed son would find mental balance in the joy of a profession that he aspired toward and seemed to excel at. His doctors, in full possession of his mental disequilibrium records and its ability to surface without prior warning, obviously felt no obligation to alert flight authorities, since no one, after all, in this kind of society wishes to be viewed as someone who doesn't respect the rights of the mentally disturbed. Above all, those who treat them.
And the authorities felt comfortable in their oversight of a man whose surface demeanor appeared normal, yet was known to them through his background health record, to be, at times, not wholly reliable in his cerebral and reasoning functioning. But who wants to be labelled a bigot, someone who discriminates against people struggling with mental illness?
His doctor had given 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz a note excusing him from his work schedule, reflecting his then-disturbed state of mind. Never thinking he had the further responsibility given the man's profession, to alert authorities, enabling Mr. Lubitz the opportunity to simply discard the note as irrelevant, and continue on to co-pilot Flight 9525. Since when does patient confidentiality trump public safety? Oh, yes, of course, in the interests of a compassionate society.
Germanwings and Lufthansa protest that their employer did not 'share' with them his medical history. What is their employment practise of imposing a mental health examination good for unless there is a background probe included with it?
Oh dear, we must never, ever impede people's human rights to achieve their aspirations. Individual rights are sacrosanct; a pity they override the pressing issue of collective human rights to safety and security of person, sacrificed to the ideal of moral presumptuousness that holds society not interfere with the aspirational rights of an individual.
It's perfectly normal. All is well. Empathy instructs us to gather in horror and sympathy at the tragedy. Floral and Teddy-bear memorials will be grown to immense proportions here and there giving ease to people's fears.
An incident that serves as an unfortunate metaphor for Germany's own horrific historical lapse into madness in a prolonged episode in modern history that impacted the entire world, at the cost of millions of lives, though 150 lives lost sounds dreadful enough at the present time.
In memory of that earlier event, more lasting monuments to the human condition exist now in the form of Holocaust museums, lest we forget. But we do.
And then there is the emotional trauma of a family anxious about the welfare and well-being of their loved ones, much alleviated by greater society's social kindness and timely interventions that once denied people with histories of mental illness their full involvement in all the opportunities to achieve satisfaction in their views of themselves as fully functioning members of society with recognized capabilities and the resolve, bolstered by new enabling laws and forgivingly helpful authorities and health professionals to permit them to seek fulfillment in a profession that appeals to them.
Even though the young man whose morbidly suicidal dissatisfaction with his life and possible rage at the world had experienced earlier and prolonged periods of psychological dysfunction requiring isolation from society and significant professional medical assistance, he was deemed suitable to place the lives of hundreds of people in his capable hands. For he demonstrated proficiency in his craft of managing the flight of modern aircraft, passenger aircraft in particular since this is where he sought his future, as an airlines pilot in one of the world's most socially progressive cultures, and one of the world's most safe and reliable airlines. He had mastered the technicalities of flight, but, alas, not the malign functioning of his disturbed mind.
His parents found comfort in the thought that their disturbed son would find mental balance in the joy of a profession that he aspired toward and seemed to excel at. His doctors, in full possession of his mental disequilibrium records and its ability to surface without prior warning, obviously felt no obligation to alert flight authorities, since no one, after all, in this kind of society wishes to be viewed as someone who doesn't respect the rights of the mentally disturbed. Above all, those who treat them.
And the authorities felt comfortable in their oversight of a man whose surface demeanor appeared normal, yet was known to them through his background health record, to be, at times, not wholly reliable in his cerebral and reasoning functioning. But who wants to be labelled a bigot, someone who discriminates against people struggling with mental illness?
His doctor had given 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz a note excusing him from his work schedule, reflecting his then-disturbed state of mind. Never thinking he had the further responsibility given the man's profession, to alert authorities, enabling Mr. Lubitz the opportunity to simply discard the note as irrelevant, and continue on to co-pilot Flight 9525. Since when does patient confidentiality trump public safety? Oh, yes, of course, in the interests of a compassionate society.
Germanwings and Lufthansa protest that their employer did not 'share' with them his medical history. What is their employment practise of imposing a mental health examination good for unless there is a background probe included with it?
Oh dear, we must never, ever impede people's human rights to achieve their aspirations. Individual rights are sacrosanct; a pity they override the pressing issue of collective human rights to safety and security of person, sacrificed to the ideal of moral presumptuousness that holds society not interfere with the aspirational rights of an individual.
It's perfectly normal. All is well. Empathy instructs us to gather in horror and sympathy at the tragedy. Floral and Teddy-bear memorials will be grown to immense proportions here and there giving ease to people's fears.
An incident that serves as an unfortunate metaphor for Germany's own horrific historical lapse into madness in a prolonged episode in modern history that impacted the entire world, at the cost of millions of lives, though 150 lives lost sounds dreadful enough at the present time.
In memory of that earlier event, more lasting monuments to the human condition exist now in the form of Holocaust museums, lest we forget. But we do.
Labels: Catastrophe, Human Fallibility, Human Rights
posted by Pieface | 10:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home