At least MRI doesn't really screw the patient much, and doesn't screw society at all, unlike overprescription of antibiotics.
(I'm in favor of complete availability of most scheduled drugs -- narcotics, pot, LSD, whatever -- but restriction of antibiotics to those with a prescription. Drug resistant bacteria is no joke.)
There's probably some argument for 0.5T MR being diagnostic now, with faster computers. I just think Japan pushed to low-field earlier because they don't actually care about the results. Also Japanese tend to be physically smaller, so maybe a 0.5T there is as effective as a 1T in the land of the super-sized drive-through.
Antibiotics are restricted to those with a prescription in most European countries, for the reason you mentioned. That said, I still keep some in reserve (purchased via prescriptions from doctors in my family) to use judiciously when traveling or living abroad without wanting to deal with the local healthcare system.
(I'm in favor of complete availability of most scheduled drugs -- narcotics, pot, LSD, whatever -- but restriction of antibiotics to those with a prescription. Drug resistant bacteria is no joke.)
There's probably some argument for 0.5T MR being diagnostic now, with faster computers. I just think Japan pushed to low-field earlier because they don't actually care about the results. Also Japanese tend to be physically smaller, so maybe a 0.5T there is as effective as a 1T in the land of the super-sized drive-through.