Well, it has been a busy series of months teaming with my wife to help her wend the torturous path into medical school. She's excited and thrilled to have gotten this far towards achieving a childhood dream. But the MCAT, essays, interview, letters, oh my! I understand how important it is to ensure that our health care professionals are dedicated, intelligent, and alert. But I question whether the system of hoops required for admission truly screen for the most empathetic or altruistic.
Why? Because the cost of health care, for both patients and general physicians, has become so outrageous that anyone who researches the field prior to applying probably figured out that only the intentionally penitent or sufficiently rich would do anything other than specialize, or look to a spouse to cover the loan repayments during the long, cold struggle through post-partem depression. Get in, do 7 - 9 years of residency, get your money, and get out - hopefully with legal skin intact.
Basically the system appears to have evolved - by dint of lawsuit, perhaps - into one that punishes the well-meaning and rewards those who seek medical treatment for convenience and consumption, rather than necessity or salvation. What type of doctors generally make the least money in healthcare? Those who provide primary care. Who could help lead our country back into affordable health care - those same people.
I find it interesting that we spend more money on correctors than preventers - but that would seem to fit into the thinking of a troup of monkeys, then, wouldn't it?
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