intellectual property
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/oblivious-supreme-court-poised-to-legalize-medical-patents.ars
THIEVES splinting legs and stopping bleeding.
What gives them the right to use the same techniques that innovators pioneered? What gives them the right to steal the hard-earned lifesaving methods inventors discovered?
The only unfortunate fact is that it is too late to protect so many of these ingenius ideas with intellectual property law. If only the Supreme Court acted sooner.
Supporters of theft will probably claim that these kinds of patents prevent saving millions of lives. If you want your life saved go invent your own medicine, or license it! Just because you want something doesn't make taking it from someone else right.
For clarity: This case is about allowing a company to patent a method for treating a disease. For example, you might give someone Aspirin if you detect something in their blood. Even if Aspirin isn't patented, the idea of using it to treat a certain condition is.