Smoking in Halacha

The RCA Halacha Committee has published a ruling prohibiting smoking (ruling - PDF; RCA press release). Although this Teshuva was published last week and has been discussed elsewhere, I wanted to bring it to the attention to the members/readers of the NMHS Blog. Much of the discussion has focused on why this topic and why now? (Ironically, the RCA ruling just preceded the Florida Supreme Court decision to throw out a $145 billion liability suit against Big Tobacco.) But there is another aspect to the issue that relates to the phycisian directly.
Every H & P form asks whether the patient smokes/ed and the hospials I have worked at have a policy that these patients should receive smoking cessasion counselled (albeit usually mere lip service). Usually we view smoking cessasion as "risk factor modification" just as we counsel patients to eat less fat and cholesterol or encourage diabetics to attain better glycemic control.
However, if there is a halachic prohibition to smoke, perhaps, there is a halachic obligation for Jewish phycisians to seriously encourage smoking cessasion for their patients--le'hafrisho me'issur. Beyond the patient's family, one's phycisian is best positioned to affect this change in prohibitted practice. But remember hocheyach to'chiach and le'hafrisho me'issur requires the proper approach, time and place.

My father, Dr. Steven Oppenheimer wrote an excellent article (I can't help but be biased) on the the topic of preventative health in which he quotes the Chafetz Chaim:

It is amazing that even before the strong medical evidence against smoking that exists today, the saintly Chafetz Chaim wrote the following regarding smoking (this would also apply to any activity that might endanger a person){:

"I said to the smokers, who gave you permission to get into the habit (of smoking)? While it is true that our sages said, One who harms himself, even though it is not allowed, he is exempt, they still said that it is not allowed to harm oneself. First, because (the torah commands us) ve'nishmartem le'nafshoteichem. Moreover, the world and its inhabitants belong to the Almighty, who created us for His glory and in His mercy gives each and everyone the proper amount of energy to devote to Torah and this world. How can the servant permit himself to do whatever he wants when he belongs to his Master? If smoking saps a persons vigor, in the end he will be made to answer for this, for he did this on his own and not because of coercion. Therefore, when one reflects upon the harm one brings upon onself, one will find the strength to avoid the habit." (Likutei Amorim, chapter 13. See also Rambam, Hilchot Sanhedrin, 18:6 and the commentary of Radvaz.)

IY"H I'll post the full article later to the website.
Avi Oppenheimer