This really made me angry
Sep. 18th, 2010 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rayvyn2kSomething I read on Facebook this morning. Linked by a couple of my friends.
"(This is a picture of) a young physician by the name of Dr. Roger Starner Jones. (photo) 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
I got so very angry while reading this that I posted a reply on my FB page:
"I just read a horrifying "letter to the President" from an ER doctor. He writes there should not be government mandated health insurance because we live in "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". Well, "Doctor" Roger Starner Jones, there will always be those who will cheat any system.
And you know as well as, or better than, anyone that most of the people you see in your ER are NOT welfare cheats. They are poor, lower-middle and these days even straight on middle class people who have never had health insurance or lost it when they lost their jobs. This happened to BOTH of my kids and their families. None of which are on the public dole and, both of which hope and pray every day that they and their children stay healthy. Because they cannot afford to pay their rent and pay for health insurance. So, FUCK YOU. The 60.00 tattoo my daughter has would neither pay for one visit to your ER, nor one office visit to a GP.
“Doctor” Jones, you know as well as anyone else that welfare cheats are not the majority of the people you see in your ER. No. The majority of the people you see are like my kids, poor, lower-middle class or, increasingly straight on MIDDLE CLASS folks who have either never had health insurance at all, or lost it due to losing their job. It is people like you, the ones who only seem to want MOREMOREMORE, who are causing this country to slip into Third World status. Until the “haves” become more willing to share the wealth, America will NEVER be as great as it used to be.
What has happened to this country, “DOCTOR”, is the few greedy bastards gathering all the wealth to themselves—more than they can ever use in their lifetimes—and never being satisfied.
Blaming the few is so very easy. But you, and those who agree with you, are condemning people like my children—hardworking Americans—to a precarious life on the edge. One health crisis away from disaster. What ever happened to “it takes a village”?
And I have another question for “Doctor” Jones. What of the Hippocratic Oath? Specifically: “I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know.” And, “I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.”
It seems to me, “Doctor”, you have violated that oath, you have lost your empathy and you should find another line of work, immediately.
Not to mention the fact that the first paragraph of his letter makes it clear he's talking about an African-American. So, there is the thinly veiled racism, too.
The attitude of this "doctor" as well as so many other Americans, IMO, is the reason this country is going down the tubes.
According to this blog, it would cost the US government about 130-150 billion to fund a one-payor health care system.
This is the cost of the two wars the US has been involved in the last nine years.
It seems to me that all we have to do is pull out of both Iraq and Afghanistan (neither of which is win-able, it seems to me) then our government can fund universal health care without increasing the budget.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. The women of the world have to take control back. A matriarchy would get away from comparing dicks and get back to nurturing their people.
"(This is a picture of) a young physician by the name of Dr. Roger Starner Jones. (photo) 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
I got so very angry while reading this that I posted a reply on my FB page:
"I just read a horrifying "letter to the President" from an ER doctor. He writes there should not be government mandated health insurance because we live in "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". Well, "Doctor" Roger Starner Jones, there will always be those who will cheat any system.
And you know as well as, or better than, anyone that most of the people you see in your ER are NOT welfare cheats. They are poor, lower-middle and these days even straight on middle class people who have never had health insurance or lost it when they lost their jobs. This happened to BOTH of my kids and their families. None of which are on the public dole and, both of which hope and pray every day that they and their children stay healthy. Because they cannot afford to pay their rent and pay for health insurance. So, FUCK YOU. The 60.00 tattoo my daughter has would neither pay for one visit to your ER, nor one office visit to a GP.
“Doctor” Jones, you know as well as anyone else that welfare cheats are not the majority of the people you see in your ER. No. The majority of the people you see are like my kids, poor, lower-middle class or, increasingly straight on MIDDLE CLASS folks who have either never had health insurance at all, or lost it due to losing their job. It is people like you, the ones who only seem to want MOREMOREMORE, who are causing this country to slip into Third World status. Until the “haves” become more willing to share the wealth, America will NEVER be as great as it used to be.
What has happened to this country, “DOCTOR”, is the few greedy bastards gathering all the wealth to themselves—more than they can ever use in their lifetimes—and never being satisfied.
Blaming the few is so very easy. But you, and those who agree with you, are condemning people like my children—hardworking Americans—to a precarious life on the edge. One health crisis away from disaster. What ever happened to “it takes a village”?
And I have another question for “Doctor” Jones. What of the Hippocratic Oath? Specifically: “I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know.” And, “I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.”
It seems to me, “Doctor”, you have violated that oath, you have lost your empathy and you should find another line of work, immediately.
Not to mention the fact that the first paragraph of his letter makes it clear he's talking about an African-American. So, there is the thinly veiled racism, too.
The attitude of this "doctor" as well as so many other Americans, IMO, is the reason this country is going down the tubes.
According to this blog, it would cost the US government about 130-150 billion to fund a one-payor health care system.
This is the cost of the two wars the US has been involved in the last nine years.
It seems to me that all we have to do is pull out of both Iraq and Afghanistan (neither of which is win-able, it seems to me) then our government can fund universal health care without increasing the budget.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. The women of the world have to take control back. A matriarchy would get away from comparing dicks and get back to nurturing their people.
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(no subject)
Date: 9/19/10 03:42 am (UTC)They shouldn't be allowed to have decent phones, or tattoos or sneakers that just maybe they got on sale or were given them. They should just sit in a room and save up money for the hospital bills they may someday incur.