Altruism.

21Jun08

I get it, socialized health care = altruism.

Truth is it doesn’t work.

It is a harsh reality. One that I do not stomach well.

There seems to be 2 schools of thought.

The first being the altruistic one. The (possibly naive) idea that we can simply help people because they need help. Health care is a human right, and one that should not be denied under circumstances related to money.

The second being the business one. Simply put, health care is a service, it is self-propagating because health care is not a fundamental right or need.

Personally, I am all for altruism. I feel like if you have CHF, and you cannot breathe, and I have some power to stop that, than you as a human being deserve the lasix that will fix you. Because at that point in time nothing (including love, food, shelter ect.) is more of a need than the need to breathe. (not that socialized health care works)

But really, neither school of thought is accurate. In actuality, medicine is as much of a mix of emotional and logical as it is a mix of art and medicine.

Traditionally health care workers have a solid balance of emotional/logical, we have too just to get through the rigorous course work that earns us the right to work in the field.

So how much do our experiences weigh into our emotional/logical balance? And how can we regain that balance?

Why won’t socialized health care work? Because it lack the balance necessary to sustain itself.

Filed under: Medicine, Musings, The Health Care Mess, Things you don't learn in school   |  
Tags: socialized health care, The Health Care Mess, Things you don't learn in school