Medical care for non-smokers only

Not surprisingly to those familiar with increasing fanaticism of the nanny state, also in Germany there are first attempts of denying smokers equal access to medical treatment.
Dr. Jochen Mathews, surgeon at the Heidekreis hospital in Soltau (Lower Saxony) called a patient one day before her long scheduled operation on her cruciate ligament to tell her that she has to take a tobacco withdrawal course first. If ‘successful’ she would be entitled to the operation.
Asked by a journalist, the physician replied that he never operates smokers, only in acute cases of emergency.

Others hospitals reacted bewilderedly, some had never heard of such an incident, smokers are generally treated the same way as non-smokers.
The Heidekreis hospital tried to defend itself against the outrage created by its employee. The director claimed that the patient's alleged bronchitis would require a three-week postponement of the operation. Interestingly, the woman was operated a few days later in another hospital.

Apparently, some medical doctors don’t take the Hippocratic Oath but the Hypocritical one.

The court ruling - the positive aspects

Many owners und regulars of small German bars will remember the 30th of July, 2008, as the day when the ashtrays came back.
The decision of the German Constitutional Court brought some freedom of choice to many venues, de jure in Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, de facto also in most other states.

Although Germany is far from being in a post-ban situation, life has become easier for many. Whatever the states may decide in the coming months, social life and business figures can recover after the losses they faced.
And the discussion about smoking, smoking bans and the nanny state in general remains on the agenda.

The stakes are higher now, the antis push for total bans, but the number sceptical voices in the media and in politics increases as well.

As Joe Jackson pointed out in a recent column:

(a) The states now have until the end of 2009 to re-write their laws, and until then, smoking is allowed.
(b) The rights of bar owners and the fact that smoking bans hurt business, have been officially recognised.
(c) It demonstrates that action can make a difference.
(d) We have another year and a half to fight the antismoking fascists.

Forces Germany will of course take that challenge.

The court ruling - education by force

Although the decision of the German Constitutional Court offers a short-term relief for many bar owners and customers, its overall message is very dangerous.

It has been critized sharply not only by Netzwerk Rauchen - Forces Germany.
Dr. Josef Iseensee, Professor emeritus at the University of Bonn and a very renowned scholar of constitutional law, calls it "a pyrrhic victory for professional freedom because it paves the way for a total smoking ban and thereby for an ecological education by force of the complete population".
According to him, the court allows "brutal action" in the field of "health protection".

One of the eight judges, professor Masing, in his minority vote, fears a "patronizing paternalism" through total smoking bans.

Professor Winfried Hassemer, the former Vice President of the Constitutional Court, attacks the tendencies to "ostracize" tobacco as a drug - and the lobbies behind it. That makes him one of the few who openly point out that these bans are anti-smoking instead of 'protecting' anyone.
"The cigarette is a part of our culture", the retired judge, a non-smoker, says, "On the street, I sometimes walk behind someone who smokes a good cigarette, I smell that and enjoy that as well. There is no point in being radical about things that have to do with the general everyday life."

In addition to the mentioned jurists, professor Günter Ropohl, the author of "Smokers of all countries, unite!", also comments negatively about the ruling, describes it as being "contradictory and biased".