More often than not, government interference makes worse whatever problems it intends to fix. One example is the government's desire to ensure that EMT personnel get standardized training.

Doctors, EMTs and state emergency medical directors are working with federal regulators to make sure that EMTs that staff ambulances are trained to give the best help possible. It is a lofty goal, but not one that comes without a price. In rural expanses like North Dakota, hundreds of square miles are covered by a volunteer force of EMTs. Making them jump through additional hoops is likely to cause less people to volunteer. Fox(search)News reports:

The 17 members of the Center ambulance squad who serve nearly all of Oliver County are volunteers, much like most EMTs in the state.

And like many of their counterparts around the country, members of the Center squad are worried that proposed national standards could more than double the amount of training they must have and thin their ranks.

"A lot of people can't comprehend what it's like to drive 345 miles and not see a house, not see anything, and to have to cover that," said Mickie Eide, the squad's leader. "If you keep requiring us to do more, there's going to be less of us to do it."

Like Thomas Sowell reminds us, even safety has a price. Taken to the extreme, if more training is such a wonderful thing why not just require EMTs to be medical doctors?