The pharmacist who provided the diluted medication did so for his own profit. In a Libertarian utopia, they should have chosen a better a pharmacist.
It is sort of a moot point, either way. Eventually Libertarians have to give up on their childish fantasies. Taken to the logical place, somewhere, somehow, the government needs to be involved.
Do we need a pharmacy board to decide if a person should have the ability to dispense medications? Not in the libertarian world. It is the individual who should ensure the pharmacy is practicing good medicine.
Do we need an FDA to approve drugs? No. Again, in their utopia, we let the free market decide if the drug is efficacious.
Do we need any kind of inspections to insure the pharmacy isn't just getting bottled water? No. Here again, the free market should decide which manufacturer can be trusted.
Do we need a doctor or nurse who is licensed by the government to prescribe or administer the drug? No. You should have make sure your doctor went to college and he is qualified.
In their ideal, by the time you do all the research needed to determine if your doctor is qualified to treat you, your nurse is qualified, done a background check on the pharmacist, visited the factory to make sure they are producing what sterile and real product, checking the delivery systems that move the product from factory to hospital or pharmacy, go around to everyone who has had the drug to make sure it hasn't killed more people than helped because there is no government reporting agency for adverse effects....you are dead.
I could spend paragraphs on trying to unravel how many places one must rely on something other than the free market to get a drug from inception to patient, but according to libertarians we don't need any of that?
Even so, because of the profit motive, his mother is dead. Praise free market capitalism! And since no agency should exist in their world to investigate the matter, she becomes a review on Angie's List of that particular doctor/nurse/drug manufacturer, etc for everyone else to check when their turn comes around for a health care need.
No matter how you slice it, the libertarian ideal falls apart under scrutiny because at some point, any sane person wants some kind of government involvement in health care.
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