Peter HK wrote:
"Duncan Heenan" wrote in message
...


Society's moral judgements are reflected in the law. There is no law
against unqualified people sailing boats, there is one regarding
people who drive cars, who have to be licensed and medically fit.
Your example is a poor one

Here there are requirements for boat licences that do require
competency/medical fitness exactly like car licences. Thus the
analogy is apt.


Really? That's a bit of a slippery argument, sport. Unless there've been
some legislative changes I'm unaware of, those rules apply to power boats
over 6hp. AFAIK a 100 year old blind man is perfectly at liberty t take his
70 foot sailboat out unfettered by any form of legislation. (this must still
be the case, because I'm sure there are a few of them sailing out of my
harbour).

because the demented man driving the car was doing so illegally.
Society has, by not requiring sailors to take tests, ruled that
anyone can go sailing on their own decision alone.

See above.

Relying on a doctor to decide on what
you should or should not do is rather like letting the motor mechanic
decide where you should drive your car to. I can see no reason to
give any more credence to a doctor's moral views than anyone else's,
lest of all the 'patient', especially when the patient doesn't even
feel ill.


I wasn't discussing "moral" views rather medicolegal issues. There
are Laws- which you seem to accept as a basis for society according
to your first sentence- dealing with mental capacity, substituted
decision making etc. I have to work within that framework.


This whole thread is surely posed from a moral viewpoint? Even if it is
legally possible to stop this guy setting sail, is it morally or ethically
correct to do so? If it is not legally possible to stop him, is it morally
or ethically correct to allow him to go (and perhaps more importantly put
others) in harms way?

It's not my place to judge, but if I was 85 and even halfway competent, I'd
think I'd earned the right to make the call myself. At 65 his partner has
probably earned the same right.

IMO it's irresponsible for anyone to put to sea with absolutely no skills,
and I can't imagine it will be much fun for a 65yo to do so, so I'm picking
it would be a pretty short trip in any event, one way or another. But that
is their mistake to make.

Ian