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Dean was my best friend and partner for 17 years even though our relationship had its ups and downs through the years. The following was written by Dean's brother who works for the department of energy in Washington as a lawyer. It is a must read, and I hope you all agree.
On February 21, 2010, my brother Dean died. Nothing will bring him back, but if you share his story with others, you might just save a life. Or two. Or a lot more.
Dean had a blood clot in his leg, which traveled to his lung, causing an obstruction of blood flow through his lungs, a pulmonary embolism. Short of breath, he called 911, but the ambulance did not make it to his home in time.
The tragedy is that this is not the first time he had a clot in his leg. And, in the last week of his life, Dean was suffering the same symptoms (pain and swelling in the affected leg) that he suffered the first time, when the clot was successfully treated. Of course, armed with Dean’s history, a health care professional could have treated Dean’s clot last week and saved his life. With some of the best, if not the best, health care professionals in the world, our country has the capacity to deliver excellent health care. The problem here is not with the doctors, or the nurses, etc.
The problem here is that Dean, understandably, was concerned about the costs he would incur if he ended up in a hospital for treatment of his blood clot. Oh, he had insurance, but he was afraid that if he went to a doctor’s office and reported his history of a previous blood clot, his insurance wouldn’t cover the treatment of (you guessed it) his pre-existing condition. So when he sought medical treatment, he reported his symptoms, but did not report his history, and was sent home with prescriptions for ibuprofen and a muscle relaxant. Two days later, he was dead.
In retrospect, Dean made a bad choice. What was he thinking? Perhaps he thought that if things got worse, a doctor could have diagnosed and treated his problem without needing to find out his history of a prior blood clot, and his insurance would have helped pay for his treatment. So, Dean played the odds, and lost. His life.
What is wrong with this picture?
A profit-driven market economic system that effectively rewards good behavior (hard work, thrift, etc.) and punishes the opposite makes a certain amount of sense. One could say that it provides a benefit to society. Even in the health care context, folks can legitimately debate whether paying for the treatment of diseases that are brought on by behavior we should want to discourage (e.g., overeating, smoking, drinking) can have the perverse effect of rewarding, or at least not sufficiently discouraging, such behavior.
But Dean did not cause his blood clot. And while market forces can be very efficient and socially useful, the free market is not God, nor is it some natural state of things that God intended. The free market is a tool, nothing more or less. Like any tool, not using it can sometimes lead to perverse results. And using it can also lead to perverse results (like people dying). Same with government. The government is not the Devil. It is a tool. In a democracy, it is simply one way for free people to pool their resources together to get something done. Using it can also lead to perverse results (like people dying). But that doesn’t make government, even “big” government, inherently bad. Sometimes, it is exactly what is needed (if you need an indisputable example, think World War II).
I’m not going to advocate a particular solution to what is a painfully obvious problem. But, people, for God’s sake, use your heads. If you hear someone talk about a “government takeover” of our health care system, instead of reflexively thinking, “oh, government bad, free market good,” use your heads and be willing to at least see shades of grey. Life is not so simple.
We have the tools at our disposal to fix, or at least significantly ameliorate, this problem. And, yes, one of those tools is government. No tool should be off the table. Whatever works.
Together, let’s get this done. Lives, quite literally, hang in the balance.
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