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Medical research must go on

The Spokesman-Review

Re: “Don’t fight nature’s way,” (Letters, Jan. 31):

What a quaint, fatalistic attitude (“if someone has a disease, it is meant to be”). Therefore, we shouldn’t have developed polio or smallpox vaccines, bypass surgeries, cancer treatments and so much more, right?

Perhaps we should close the medical schools and research hospitals, too! Many diseases are the result of poor sanitation, unclean water, etc. If prevention is within our ability, then that disease is certainly not “meant to be.”

If one believes the Bible, Christ cured the sick, even raised the dead. Why should we not try to do as much?

The letter writer’s convoluted and apathetic railing against medical research shows a lack of empathy for those most in need of scientific breakthroughs. Yes, people are born and die every day, but is that sufficient reason to stop trying to find disease cures or injury therapies? I agree we should stop worrying about death and live life; nobody gets out alive. But I also believe we can live in harmony with nature, even find help there, and still incorporate modern medical and scientific research to have longer, healthier, happier lives for ourselves, our children and their children in turn.

Lowell Lehman

Spokane



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