Safe Self-Harm

No kidding -- Safe Self-Harm:

NURSES want patients who are intent on harming themselves to be provided with clean blades so that they can cut themselves more safely.
They say people determined to harm themselves should be helped to minimise the risk of infection from dirty blades, in the same way as drug addicts are issued with clean needles.

This could include giving the “self-harm” patients sterile blades and clean packets of bandages or ensuring that they keep their own blades clean. Nurses would also give patients advice about which parts of the body it is safer to cut.

The proposal for “safe” self-harm — which is to be debated at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Congress in April — is likely to provoke controversy.

At present nurses are expected to stop anyone doing physical harm to themselves and to confiscate any sharp objects ranging from razor blades to broken glass and tin cans.

The mind boggles. Back in the '80s, when we were debating the slippery slope of needle-exchange programs, I can confidently state that no one, No One! ever suggested this as a possible outcome. If ScrappleFace had published this as a satire, it would have seemed too surreal to be funny. Reading this article, I flashed on Alice Cooper's line "You'd even force-feed a diabetic a candy cane". And the one after that as well of course.

(Via Tammy)