I spent this Christmas, as I’m sure many others did, over-indulging in rich foods and alcohol, and barely moving from the sofa. I made choices that were far from healthy, and take full responsibility for the resulting lethargy, bad skin and headache.
But on a larger scale, to what degree is an individual responsible for their health? It is all too easy to label the smoker with lung cancer, the alcoholic with liver failure or the obese patient with heart disease as culpable and look no further. And of course it is true that no-one held a gun to their head and made them smoke, drink, or eat to excess. But this view is dangerously narrow and simplistic. The actions of individuals and their health-related actions must be viewed within a broader social context. We act as individuals but we do not live in a vacuum.
drlj 