Smokin' Hospitals

In A.G. Sulzberger’s “Hospitals Shift Smoking Bans to Smoker Ban,” Sulzberger explains how hospitals and medical businesses are adopting a policy to refuse smokers of a job. Hospitals says that “smoking is a reason to turn away a job applicant.” They imagine that hiring non-smokers would increase worker productivity and reduce health care costs. It is said that applications will have a warning of  “tobacco-free hiring,” and that those applicants will receive a drug test for nicotine, or they will be terminated. I for one oppose this policy. Yes it may have some advantages of having more work done, or a healthier environment, but it restricting many people from getting a job. Lets say someone went to medical school, hoping to earn his or her degree into becoming a doctor or nurse, but is a smoker. If they were to graduate, they should not be turned down a job because of a habit due to past mistakes. Smoking is not easily given up on, it is a very hard habit to quit. If more places were to ban smokers, almost half of the adult population would be jobless and in poverty.