Yowzers. A charity wants to do a free medical clinic for a few days during January, but can't afford the estimated $77,000 fee the authorities would charge. Well, I suppose they have a right to charge something for the extra cleanup and etc. the event would necessitate... though $77,000 seems just a mite steep to me. But the newsguys, instead of including relevant facts about the fees or examples of other charity events and corresponding fees, made sure to interview some dude about whether doing medical charity is even a good idea at all:
"Many District residents have chronic conditions, Keane said. 'What they need is comprehensive care, and I think the worst thing you can do to a patient is diagnose his problem and then not be able to treat it over the long haul,' he said."
So... in other words... don't bother doing charity work for the poor. I mean, unless they can have "comprehensive" care provided by the government, just forget about diagnosing conditions because these folks will have a hard time with that follow-up care thing. Better just to let these folks NOT KNOW they have diabetes or a heart condition, since unless they can see the magical doctor-person and get some pills and an MRI? Diet and exercise are useless, and it's just not useful to know that you have a problem. Better to let things go on as they are.
And I'm thinking that by this reasoning, we need to stop giving bottled water to people after hurricanes. I mean, it's just unacceptable here in America that we don't have a "comprehensive water system" no matter what, so it's a bad idea to give that short-term help.
Know what? People like this would rather things got really crappy for poor folks so they could magically prove their "point" about comprehensive medical care. Let those kids suffer with the scarlet fever that's easily treated now, but could mean blindness or death in a few weeks. That'll show those politicians.
Ok, I just shake my head at that attitude. You know, I don't think that government health care is the "solution," but that doesn't mean I would get all happy about someone's kid dying because the parents delayed going to the ER because they "can't afford" it if it doesn't pass. Life isn't about scoring political points. Good grief...
I think a little charity in our thoughts as well as our deeds is warranted.
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This may be why Missouri doesn't offer more of these. Just over the AR state line, in Eureka Springs, is a free clinic staffed by some of the most amazing people. This is where my mother and stepfather go for their medical care. It is such an amazing operation that the national news did a story on it. The couple it features just happen to be my mother and my stepfather.I included the video in my blog last January.
ReplyDeletehttp://earthshoes41.blogspot.com/2009/01/abc-news-echo-clinic-eureka-springs.html
My take on this can be summed up in just a few words: Something has got to give.
I've heard a lot of complaining by MO physicians about malpractice problems. They used to have posters in the waiting room encouraging patients to call their representatives. Physicians are leaving the state and this could be a real problem if you have an emergency.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to know, though, because I've heard tales of people in other states who have gotten re-routed to faraway hospitals when they called the ambulance and the local hospital is "full."