The Fruit of a Poisonous Tree
'Fruit of the poisonous tree' is a legal metaphor in the United States used to describe certain evidence that is inadmissible in court because it was discovered during an illegal government operation. The logic of the terminology is that if the source (the "tree") of the evidence is tainted, then any evidence gained (the "fruit") from it is tainted as well. This terminology would also be apt to describe our health care system. There have been mistakes made in the past , such as exclusion of health insurance premiums from the income of the beneficiary, that are clearly arbitrary and unjustifiable. Accordingly, our health system today is a poisonous tree because it incorporated this sin early on. While this original sin persists, no matter how we tend to our healthcare system, the fruits that it bears will lead to heart ache for consumers and the general population. It is for this reason that attempts to legislate 'Price controls', ...