Why are doctors offices going to metric system in the USA?

That proves we have been sold to China?

We are no longer Americans. We are now Chinesericans

I just saw what our new flag is going to be.

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swirlie · 31-35

The reason Doctors offices are going metric in the USA is because a huge percentage of medicinal drugs are manufactured in other countries, like China for example who use the metric system.

Many drugs that are used in the American healthcare system are also manufactured in Canada and shipped over the border to the US by the truckload each day.

Those drugs manufactured in Canada come with a metric measure on the label and it's far safer for American Doctors to dispense those drugs to patients using the metric system, rather than taking a chance on screwing things up by converting that metric measure to Imperial measure.

The bottom line is, if the USA buys drugs in metric quantities from their foreign supplier, the standard is to keep it in metric to avoid confusion when dispensing it.

You might find this of interest when you think of America losing it's identity in the metric world:

The US system of units from 1832 (the US gallon), is base on the original system in use in Britain PRIOR to the introduction of what's now known as the "British Imperial System", the latter of which came into existence in 1826.

What the USA still uses today is an old abandoned system of measure that was used in Britain prior to 1826.

The US gallon and all other forms of US measure was not invented in the USA and declared an 'American thing'. It is actually a very old 'British thing' that ended up on the shores of the USA over 250 years ago when Brits and a few other worthy types were fleeing the King of England, yet brought that old system of measure with them when they left England on the big boat.... and that old, abandoned British system of measure has remained in place across the USA ever since!

And finally, there is one other thing you should know about America's identity in the world of metric versus British standard measure:

There are only 3 countries on earth who STILL use that old, original British system of measure that was used in Britain prior to the adoption of what's known today as the British Imperial System (Imperial gallon)

Those 3 countries are: the USA, Liberia and Mayanmar.

Liberia is a country located in south-west Africa.

Mayanmar is a country located south of China between India and Bangladesh.

How does it make you feel as an American to share the same obsolete standard of measure with two other countries who are considered Third World Nations and who's citizens are not even eligible for immigration status to the United States of America?

Are you SURE you want to hang onto the old instead of embracing the new?!

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@swirlie I recall reading the old US gallon may have been a 15 / 16C vintner's gallon, which seems logical as the early settlers would have used wine casks - or casks made new but by that trade's coopers - for carrying drinking-water and food on their ships for the slow voyage across the Atlantic.

swirlie · 31-35

@ArishMell
Yes, I agree. That would only make sense. It would be interesting to research why those wine casks used at the time were designed to contain a very specific volume, in terms of deciding what the actual volumetric capacity would be that comprised a gallon measurement.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@swirlie It would be,yes!

Obviously it would have helped the wine-makers and merchants to use a single set of measures in their trade, and helped the coopers to have to make identical casks, but how that particular volume wad created and adopted is probably lost in history.

Someone must have decided it, but whether anyone knows is another matter!

swirlie · 31-35

@ArishMell
Okay, now you've made me curious! Here's what I found... check this out!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallon

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@swirlie Thank you for that!

What a collection there was! What's notable is that there didn't seem to be any logical design of the units, so when they defined legally all they could do was take what existed and describe them by things like measuring-cans made the right size for the task!

I was intrigued by the use of volume and weight stating the weights had to be of brass. Yes - but "brass" covers a range of similar alloys of different densities.

It all seems a bit of a merry-go-round as the legislators tried to instil some logic into it.

The OP was about doctors going metric - using the system invented in post-Revolutionary France. I'd read elsewhere that if Britain's units of measure were a bit of muddle, France was far worse with not only different trades using their own version of their old units, but these differing even regionally as well. It caused no end of difficulties in trading so once the Republic had stabilised, they got to grips with it and invented a single nation-wide system.

swirlie · 31-35

@ArishMell

Amazing facts you provide! What I found intriguing about the size of the vessels used to determine the design of the measuring units, was that most vessels were in reference to their intended use being for wine.

From one age to the next, the size or scope of the wine vessels changed, thereby prompting a change in the unit of measure to accommodate that specific kind of wine vessel.

The old abandoned British unit of measure prior to the British Imperial Standard, was of course what's known today as the US gallon/ounce, etc.

That previous old British standard was implemented during the Reign of Queen Ann of Britain which was the same standard of measure used at the time when those who fled the King and ended up forming a country called 'America', but who took that old British standard of measure with them across the pond which they re-named the 'US gallon' AND is still used to this very day in America!

Do you not just find it rather bazaar to think that an old standard that was in place during the Reign of Queen Ann and long since abandoned, would still be used by the Americans to this day?

I just find it fascinating that the US would have maintained something so non-American for so long into their history!

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@swirlie Thankyou!

Yes, it is strange that America should still be using an ancient British wine trade measure!

I suppose it happened because it was still being used in the time of the Founding Fathers so it made sense for them to adopt it,. but no-one saw any need to change it since then.

There were rather rough-and-ready trading-standards laws in England in Mediaeval times, but those were aimed at preventing shopkeepers from cheating. We still have such laws of course, but much more refined.

Many people find the history of early measurements amusing: the length of someone's hand or foot, and stories like that. I don't know how true such stories are; but actually they miss a point still important now.

Everything we own and use has to fit human dimensions and senses in some way or other.

Kitchen utensils and trade tools, vehicle seats and steering-wheels, doors and stairs in buildings, controls on the even the biggest and most complicated machinery.... all have to used by ordinary people.

So down the ages, measurement systems were based on human proportions.

Horses' sizes and stamina too, until the invention of steam power. The Acre was about a fair day's horse-drawn ploughing area. The Horsepower was devised to give a rough comparison between steam-engines and horses for driving machinery, to help factory owners estimate the size of engines to buy.

The Nautical Mile and the Metre were the first to break that convention, as they are based on the Earth's geometry.

swirlie · 31-35

@ArishMell
Very interesting to read! Remarkable actually. Thanks for all that!

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@swirlie Thankyou!