Up in Smoke

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, we are seeing a first step from a smoking ban in public, to that in private. As of February 1, the Memorial Hospital will be adding nicotine as a substance screened for the hiring process. If you smoke, forget about a position. One can say this would be a step to bring down health care premiums, which it would, but this isn’t why they’ve added nicotine to the screen. No, they say it’s for a step in the direction of healthier employees.

Understandable that a hospital wants to promote health, but to invade into one’s personal life? Employer based smoking bans should not impose on someone off-the-job. We’ve seen the growing trend on banning public smoking in venues, on medical campuses, in restaurants and bars etc, where other people are directly affected by your choice. But now the home? Entering a person’s world of escape, their get-away from any of the troubles of life has just been intruded upon, and by all things a halt on a completely legal substance. Illicit drugs would be a completely different scenario, the power of the law backs this, but tobacco is being targeted because of its negative health effects.

Where does that leave the obese then? The people that can’t stop themselves from the all-you-can-eat buffets now have a “healthy” advantage over smokers. The U.S. has an ever growing increase in child and adult obesity, but no disadvantages come to them for their choice not to eat healthy, exercise, or control their personal off-the-job preferences. Just one example of discrimination we could also choose to not allow anyone to be hired.

The search for a reason not to hire someone could get even more critical. Alcohol for example, when drank in excess, is very damaging to the body. Banned? Will tests be taken when entering the workforce showing every flaw, the fewest take the position? We are on the upswing from a recession that rocked the market and closed positions; this nit-picking will not push us in the direction needed. We could be seeing a filtering system that removes anyone for any reason from the selection process. This may sound radical, but the slippery slope gets steeper after the home is invaded. And yes this is an invasion, entering our homes to dictate how we live or discriminate for our choices not affecting others. Health conscious hospitals today, but the line needs to be drawn at where this stops.