This is the fundamental philosophical difference between what I (and others) believe and the stance of the single-payer supporters. Thanks GruntDoc for linking to the money quote:
As with any good or service that is provided by some specific group of men, if you try to make its possession by all a right, you thereby enslave the providers of the service, wreck the service, and end up depriving the very consumers you are supposed to be helping. To call “medical care” a right will merely enslave the doctors and thus destroy the quality of medical care in this country, as socialized medicine has done around the world . . .
(via On The Fence Films)
Related posts:
- Is health care prohibition in our future?
- Are Liberal or Conservative ideas right for health care?
- Op-ed: Shortage of primary care threatens health care system
- "Universal health care provides equal but mediocre care to everyone"
- Why American health care is so expensive
- How to take money out of health care, and is a single-payer system inevitable?
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There are two reasons why you have a duty to care as a physician.
First, no one forces you to become one. Since this is true, positive rights are not in play. It’s just like being a soldier who volunteers–you accept certain duties as a result, often these are duties conflict with your other rights.
Second, medical education is subsidized by the taxpayers. Unless you pay for medical education at a private medical school, you already are obligated to perform services for the good of society because you have received a benefit from society.
there is no right to health care. the philosophical difference here is that the “right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness” is a right given to man BY NATURE and protected by the government, not given by the government. The government is a protector of rights, not a giver of rights. Therefore, the government declaring they are going to give you a right is a lie! They have no rights to give. Emtala is a bold act of thievery and if you look up the definition, in economics any product or service as a result of labor is “property.” Medical care is property, and, just like all private property laws in the united states, violence is being done. Emtala is simply eminent domain abuse. If the government says you have a right to housing, would you consider it fair that every hotel give up their rooms?
Medical Care is a service. Just like Legal Services are services. People who work in service industries expect to get paid for their services that is why we go into them. There are many ways to help humanity with out being a doctor. This notion that one has to be selfless to be a doctor is bunk. Just like your lawyer, I should be able to demand payment up front. Or you can go get your free services provided by the church run charity clinics which kinda equates to public defenders in the legal world.
How in the world did we ever survive in this evil evil country without EMTALA? Without forcing doctors and EMS providers to haul an able bodied 30 yr old with a 3 day rash to the ER while the 55 yr old diabetic sits at home having his heart attack waiting on that ambulance to get to him. Heaven forbid we tell the rash person that there are more important calls than her rash. BTW in this case the wife of the MI victim raised caine about the 15 minute wait her husband had to endure while the ambulance dropped the rash off and went back for him. I should have taken her to the room where the itchy scaly person sat texting on her cell phone waiting on her free pregnancy test (the real reason she was there) and let her know the real reason her husband sat dying for 15 minutes. Thats what we need in this country…social justice. Then none of this would be an issue. I’d like to see the real pain patients get a hold of the drug seekers. I’d buy that on pay per view.
If any of you are Christians. What would Jesus do? While the dominant humans in his time threw the lepards out the door, Jesus helped these poor souls. During his time, Jesus believed health care was a right.
I am a Physician, the reason I became a physician was to help the sick, not to see how fat my pocket could get. The money I make right now is great, I am blessed. A socialized system would not make me poor, it just wouldn’t make me filthy rich. A socialized system would give me a greater job security. Yes the volume of patients would increase, but I would be doing what I dreamed of doing when I was a young boy.
This takes on a very personal note for me. My mother was turned away from treatment before EMTALA and died. She went to the E.D. with a c/o “severe headache” since we were poor she could not afford the hospital bill, she was turned away. She died in her sleep that night with probably a subdural hematoma (I am assuming that is what it was, from what I know now).
Is this happening today? I would answer yes. There is someone right now who has these same symptoms but will not go to the hospital because they can not afford the bill, and yet another young child will become parentless. And yet Americans are okay with this.
As a physician, I do not want another child to endure what I had at a young age. I would have loved to have my mother witness many things in my life…my marriage…graduating med school…my two children (who are also physicians).
It is time for Americans to wake up! Americans MUST see that they are not the only person living in this great country. This is not a problem in any other advanced country right now. Other countries are not as narcissistic as we Americans are.
I can say this now, since I worked from nothing into a good medical practice.(and I am near retirement). Majority of the individuals I meet that are against a socialized system came from priveledged families, and are “spoiled brats”. Sorry to offend the very few who are not. Once these “spoiled brats” make there first dollar, they are scared someone else needs it more than they do. Like dad and mom tried to teach you when you are young, “you must share”.
I believe we all have a mission i nthis world, and it is not to see how big our wallets can get.
Dr. Dominique Vituli
Dr. Vituli, I’m sorry for what happened to your mother, but healthcare being a right or a privilege should not include emotions. Yes, as human beings we have morals and the majority of medical students are becoming doctors to help people, not make money. As a medical student I always say, ‘if I was focused on being rich, I’d be a plumber’.
The importance of considering healthcare a privilege and not a right feels mostly based on the freedom of the doctor. If it becomes a right, then the doctor may lose their complete ability to decide what is best for the patient (http://www.aapsonline.org/brochures/sademcr.htm).
The closest thing to social medicine that I have heard that works is a law that was passed in Massachusetts requiring all to have some form of insurance. The poor had free insurance and those that could afford it were fined if they did not have it. I like that system, it’s socialized medicine without hospitals having to close and doctors suffering.
When it comes to healthcare workers in general, I feel it is extremely important to pay attention to their needs as well. If they are over worked, underpaid, and overall being taken advantage of, they won’t be as efficient. In an emergency situation this is of utmost importance.
I’m currently in a 3rd world country and would like to point out that people here have morals, medical students and doctors pay for patients that can’t afford the services many times in hospitals. When did we start believing that the government needed to instill morals in us, aren’t we already supposed to be aware of them?
I have never been spoiled in my life, but I do not want the socialized medical system in Sweden. I heard plenty first hand horror stories of that medical system. Also with the “free” medical services comes high taxes and a decline in a doctor-patient relationship (Sweden). Frankly, I like seeing the same doctor everytime and being allowed to choose what doctor I want to see. Not all doctors are as good as others. And not all great doctors are money hungry. If the US does something similar to Massachusetts I hope it is by state.
I realize I don’t have quotes from the Constitution and law terminology to make my words stand out more, but I think my opinion is valid nonetheless. However, since I’m a persistent second-guesser I’ll continue to read more on the issue. I think in order to make an opinion, one must really look at both sides and then at the end, make their final decision. So far mine is still at healthcare being a privilege, not a right, but I’ve only read through 8 documents and websites, maybe a few more will change my mind, but I highly doubt it.
-SH-
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