Pictured is a young physician by the name of Dr. Roger Starner Jones. His short two-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a "Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis"..
It's worth a quick read:
Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one pack of cigarettes every day, eats only at fast-food take-outs, and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture" a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.
Respectfully,
ROGER STARNER JONES, MD
If you agree...pass it on.
3 comments:
hi, its very informative, Neuro Muscular And Muscle Energy Technique , thanks
There's not much to say about this MD's letter to the president save that its barely veiled racism (classism) says more about this person's disdain and ill will towards the people he serves, than it does a studied knowledge of the problems with US healthcare. This poor "welfare queen" that shows up in so many people's assessments (or political ads) of what's wrong with "the system," or the country is great at inducing an emotional (angry) response, but provides absolutely no fact based analysis of, in this case, the relationship between healthcare resources, allocations private insurance industry practices, or overall organization of service provision.
I am a first year PT student and was happy to come upon this blog. It seemed interesting and current; however, the fact that you believe this letter should be circulated is rather disheartening. Given the state of the county's economy (and the corporate reasons for that state), to rest the related problem of the terrible state of US healthcare on the back of this poor (literally) woman, is to need a scapegoat for your own, subjective reasons. Makes me wonder why someone who believes such things would choose such a profession in the first place.
Rather than just writing a letter to the President, perhaps getting a little more information on US Healthcare is necessary. Here's a place to start:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/17-12
Darryl Richardson
Thank you Tony for your insightful response. There is obviously much more to the healthcare debate than this chain letter or even the very nice article you linked to at the bottom of your post. I do not believe at all that the woman in the center of this letter is to blame for our messed up system of health insurance. It is greed-->"greed is good" except for those of us who are not greedy. I chose this profession to help people who want to get helped. I feel I have achieved a knowledge base that allows me to help people. The insurance companies make my ability to perform my duty that much more difficult but so do people who abuse the system that is trying to help them.
I apologize for the delay in putting up your post Tony and would love to hear more from you.
Have a healthy day!
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