[aninhumer]

Because working out if someone is a competent doctor is hard and expecting every single person in society to work it out for themselves, regardless of their level of free time, education, or access to information, is a massive burden.

[taeric]

To rephrase this. As wasteful as it may seem to "protect people from themselves" there is a good reason to believe not having some of those protections is actually more expensive.

Consider the costs of seatbelt enforcement. They are real and exist. More, for most people and most rides, the seatbelt truly did nothing for you. To the point that if you got a ticket, it almost certainly cost you more than you are projected to save from having a seatbelt in the short term.

However, for society at large, we tremendously benefit by having everyone use seatbelts. From less time lost on the job, to fewer ER trips from lower collision wrecks.