I recently read an article called "Deadly Morals" and it opens up eyes to a lot of the reasons why our modern health care or lack there of exists. But before I get to that I need to bring up a couple of other points.
1) Why is it that the only profession where you get paid ahead of time, and if the services are inadequate there are no means to complain (ie: service or complaint department) is the field of medicine?
2)Why is it that the only profession where it is legal and they are actually PROTECTED by the law to be able to discriminate without reason is the field of medicine?
3)Why is it that the only profession where there is nobody to hold them accountable, or press charges for wrongful action until someone is severely injured or dead (And you have to be able to physically prove it in court too!) is the field of medicine?
The answer to all of these questions is actually quite simple. In one word the answer is power. People protect the field of medicine and all of those who work within it because they are the people who hold our healths and livelihoods in their hands, these are the people who are one of the biggest financial profiteers in the country, these are the people who can literally get away with murder. Now giving credit where credit is due, the federal government has a lot to do with this. Starting with the DEA. They go into clinics where they literally deceive doctors who are helping hundreds sometimes thousands of patients and shut them down. Some clinics are shut down for the actions of one patient. Federal Agent "Friedman" stated "The DEA here is very active at getting at this burgeoning problem of prescription drug abuse."(http://www.oregonlive.com)
This burgeoning problem of prescription drug abuse. What burgeoning problem of prescription drug abuse? (First of all, if drug addicts want to get their fix bad enough they will steal, lie, cheat, sometimes even kill in order to get it. I was watching and episode of Dr. Phil the other day (yes, I am slightly ashamed to even write that) and this woman was on who was a nurse who had been through several jobs getting fired from each of them because she would steal doctors' prescription pads, she would steal patients' identities in order to get more scripts, she would steal her family's identities and money in order to buy drugs off the street. She had no pain whatsoever she just had to get her fix. THAT is a drug addict. But someone who is addicted to pain killers is not going to continue going to doctors over and over again, trying through legitimate means to receive minimal help. An addict is not trying to regain control of their life. A pain pill addict is someone who is addicted to the euphoric response created by the medication, some similar to the response addicts can get from drugs such as heroine, cocaine, opium, whip-its, crack, I can't think of any other street drugs off of the top of my head, but many of the drugs listed above have very similar chemical reactions in the brain, some even attach to the same receptors as many prescription medications that are prescribed for whatever reason.
That being said, these patients that people place in a stereotype of "pain pill seeker" especially when diagnosed with chronic pain diseases, is not preventing the pain pill addict from receiving medication, IT IS preventing the pain patient from receiving the medications that can enable these patients to get out of bed, rehabilitate their bodies, get back to work, get back to being productive members of society, and getting off of state and federal aid. "Back injuries cost $126 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity."(National Center for Health Statistics) That is $126 billion dollars a year that could be going towards our children and their educations, that is $126 billion dollars a year that could be going towards work programs to create opportunities for those who are out of work not due to health problems and that is $126 billion a year that could be going towards veterans coming back from war with injuries that will prevent them from leading a normal life after their sacrifice for our country. Let me write it out: $126,000,000,000.00. per year. Can you even imagine what that much cash looks like? And that is only for back injuries. Now add in leg injuries, arm injuries, brain injuries, nerve damage, burn victims, cancer patients, other chronic pain patients such as lupus, fibromyalgia, rsd/crps, phantom pain, peripheral neuropathy, and on and on and on. Can you imagine how much money each year our federal government is dishing out to help these people through their times? Now imagine just how many of them would be back in the work force already if only they would have received: 1) the medical care (Whether it be the medications they need or other modalities of treatment, but I'm focusing on the modality that those in power have made nearly impossible for those who need it to receive.) they needed in order to maintain a good quality of life and ability to move around independently (to do basic things such as groom, eat, sleep, dress, bathe on their own. All things that we as healthy individuals take for granted) 2) Once those things are accomplished assistance in regaining control of their lives (help finding housing, jobs, social therapy for those who have been alone except for doctors for years and need it)
No comments:
Post a Comment