Pictured is a young physician by the name of Dr. Roger Starner Jones. He works in the emergency room of a hospital in Jackson, MS. His short two-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a “Culture Crisis” instead of a “Health Care Crisis.” This letter appeared in the “Letters to the editor” section of the August 29, 2010 edition of his local newspaper. It’s worth a 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
Jackson, MS
3 Comments
Canada Pharmacy · September 18, 2010 at 7:00 pm
There is always a problem in every health care such that in every health care their remain some problems. So government should take step for that.
Anonymous · September 19, 2010 at 12:37 am
Correct! The problem with health care is the government.Charity is charity but institutional charity is theft.
Divemedic · September 19, 2010 at 6:12 pm
So Canada:
What steps should the government take when the reason a person has no money for health care is that they spent it on liquor, cell phones, and tattoos?
Why should citizen A be required to pay for the necessities of life for citizen B, if citizen B is not willing to pay for it himself?
Any thoughts?
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