Art is Vital

? HAIKU & HEALTHCARE ?

 

 

Soft rule/out MI

Only tomorrow I’d find

He ran out of meds.

 

Optimism that existed at the beginning of this year has faded into a grim reality; something as simple as providing pharmaceuticals to the elderly cannot be accomplished without significant political strife. With a Congress controlled entirely by one political party and a Senate led by a physician, it only seemed natural that this issue, one which has remained on the American landscape for many years, would finally be managed. Unfortunately, an agreement between the divisions of this bicameral legislature has been slow to arrive. The problem does not lie within the walls of the Capitol building, but rather within the dormant souls of countless physicians who believe their only responsibility is to their patients and not to the countless millions who could never afford their life-preserving care.

 

The Oath you’ve taken:

“First do no harm” doesn’t mean

“Do not help the poor”

 

That all but a minority of physicians remain blinded to the plight of the uninsured is not unexpected because, in this profession of caregivers, the ethical code lacks guidance. The profession of the physician, in the context of modern Western civilization, swears an oath attributed to the Greek Hippocrates. Modifications in this oath have been made over time to guide the physician in his or her duties and to reflect the changes of culture. However, a feature that ought to invest itself deeply within the physician’s conscience has historically been excluded from the oath the Greeks modified from the Egyptians – ministry to the poor. 

This oversight has plagued the profession of medicine, especially as it exists in the landscape of American culture. The profession of medicine in other nations – notably Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany – has tackled the question of providing its service to all people. However, in the United States – a nation whose history begins with promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – physicians have failed to uphold the first of those self-evident truths.

Physicians, who have through the ages sworn the oath of Imhotep, the oath of Hippocrates, and the Declaration of Geneva, have failed to fulfill the Jeffersonian promise of life. This obligation to serve the people – not simply the wealthy, but all the people – has gone unanswered because physicians in this country have allowed lawyers, businessmen, and economists to manipulate their profession. The time is at hand for the physician to take the reins from these interlopers and rise to the noble task of being a servant of humanity.

 

Becoming wealthy

Should never motivate one

To don the White Coat.

 

Many physicians have lost touch with the reasons that he or she was awarded the long, white coat. A physician is a servant of the people; the uniform of the physician denotes this, not social status or financial success. When the words “I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity” are spoken by a physician the first time he or she dons the white coat, these words should not be spoken vainly nor should they be forgotten.

Physicians serve humanity. These men and women are not meant to bow to Blue Cross & Blue Shield nor to kneel to Kaiser Permanente. The physician is not a slave to Schering-Plough, a prostitute to Pfizer, nor an adulterer with Aventis.

It is critical that physicians realize that their calling is not the promotion of their private practice, the accumulation of accolades, nor the finding of fortunes.

The physician is called to serve humanity.

In this nation, at this time in history, it is especially important that a physician realize that the white coat imparts on him or her the noble obligation of creating methods to deliver medical service to all who require it. 

 

Boutique Medicine,

When others cannot afford

A doctor visit,

Is Bad Medicine

Because it values riches

Over human life

 

The social stratification within the United States has created tiers of health care; many can visit a doctor when they are ill, a few can have the doctor traipse to their doorstep carrying with him a stethoscope, a box of Godiva, and a bottle of Champaign, yet millions cannot even afford to gaze upon one wearing a white coat. These unfortunate millions cannot feel the healing hand of the physician even when they are at death’s door.

Nothing is immoral about “Boutique Medicine” – patients who desire comfortable treatment and who choose to spend their riches on it are certainly entitled to do so. Immorality and injustice reside in any society that refuses to ensure the health of all its members. Mankind should never exist like a pack of animals who, when one is weak, leave it vulnerable to the teeth of the predator. Mankind is a more faithful creature, one that loves and protects the entire herd – men, women, children, and the elderly alike.

Unfortunately, the profession of medicine has allowed the American landscape to appear much like the wild lands of the world. And as long as the physician remains a silent compatriot to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries – believing medicine to be a product and not a service – the Darwinian principle of survival of the fittest will continue. 

Remembering the respective oaths that have been pledged, perhaps the physician will revolt against this economic inequality and social immorality to emerge as a true servant of humanity. Perhaps the physician will engage in the fight to guarantee that the truths Jefferson so loudly declared as self-evident – the first of which was life – actually translate into health care for all. But who will this physician be?

 

Because they don’t vote

The uninsured mean little

To Congress people;

Because doctors do

Washingtonians listen

When we speak for them.