Homework 25- Sicko Response

Response to Sicko, Michael Moore, 2007.

Précis-

The American healthcare system is very flawed. There are a lot of people that don’t even have healthcare in America. And the one’s that are fortunate enough to have healthcare often don’t get the full coverage that they need. The capitalist, money hungry, healthcare providers, along with the government, which refuses to change the system, cause these problems. In fact, it was the government that created these problems in the first place. Whenever universal healthcare is proposed, it is written off as “too socialist”, but it turns out that many of our existing programs are socialist, like the police department. There are many other countries with better healthcare systems then America,  and a lot of them have universal healthcare. The American healthcare system needs to be changed.

Michael Moore’s Evidence:

1.    America is ranked 37^th in healthcare, behind Canada, England, and France.

2.   The healthcare industry spent over $100,000,000 to stop Hillary Clinton’s proposals for universal healthcare.

1. The first piece of evidence is supporting the argument that America has fallen behind in healthcare because American healthcare is about HMOs (Health Maintenance Organization) making a profit. It cited three countries that have universal healthcare. Universal healthcare is considered to be about helping the people over everything else because they have no HMOS competing for profit. This evidence is important because it backed the argument saying countries without these companies competing for profit have better healthcare then America.

2. This piece of evidence is important because it shows an outstanding amount of money that the healthcare companies are investing to keep healthcare the way it is. It shows that these companies are spending a lot unnecessary money to stop something that could put them out of business.

Is his evidence true?

Evidence: America is ranked 37^th in healthcare, behind Canada, England, and France.

This evidence is absolutely true. America is ranked 37^th in “Overall
health system performance” by the World Health Organization. Canada is ranked 30^th, England is ranked 18^th, and France has the best overall health system performance in the world. This evidence is from the complete list of healthcare rankings, at http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_systems.html.

My response:

Why don’t we have universal healthcare? It doesn’t make much sense at this point to not have it. Universal healthcare will improve the life of a lot of people with little cost to all. Looking from a utilitarian point of view, not having a socialized healthcare system is unthinkable. Even looking from a Canadian point of view not having a socialized healthcare system is unthinkable. American’s have to stop being greedy expletives and start looking at the big picture. If we’re supposed to be the best country in the world why is our health system ranked 37^th?  It’s clear that there is a correlation between countries that have universal healthcare and countries that have a lower ranking then us. What are we doing with this system that is shifted towards profit? This shouldn’t be a country where you have to decide between paying more then $50,000 to reattach a more useful finger or to pay $12,000 to attach the less useful finger just because you can afford it. I think the most important idea from this movie was that it would be easy to change the American healthcare system to something that’s “for the people”. 

One thing I didn’t like about this movie was that Michael Moore didn’t leave much open to interpretation. Everything was biased. It was either Michael Moore’s idea or wrong. Like in Food Inc. (2008), at least the filmmakers showed the opposing viewpoint.

This film was about one of the most controversial topics in illness and dying. It was very persuasive in showing how America’s healthcare system is flawed. This movie made me aggravated that people are making money off of peoples illnesses. But even more it aggravated me because people are dying due to the greed of some. We should be doing everything we can to prevent illness and dying. 

Homework 24- Book Response #3

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Could Cure the World, By Tracy Kidder, Published by Random House Inc., 2003.
The book-
Précis:
I followed a man named Doctor Paul Farmer around in his practice. The center plateau of Haiti. More specifically Cange, Haiti. He built a clinic, a hospital, and created a healthcare system in a region that desperately needed one. I also studied his past. He grew up living an untypical life. He grew up living a portion of his life out of a bus, and another on a boat. From a young age he devoted himself to science. He completed his undergraduate studies at Duke. He went to Harvard Medical for his medical degree. While he was at Harvard, he also spent a good portion of his time working in Haiti. That’s when he decided to devote his life to Haiti. He started a charity called Partners In Health which he contributed most of his assets to, and used it to fund his health system in Haiti. He ended up without a lot of money, not spending much time with his family, and very happy with his life.
Insights from the book:
"Ludmilla and I, we belong to the nation of those who care for the sick. Americans are lazy democrats." Page 229.
Response: Of course doctor Farmer considers himself an American, but with this quote he is making a clear distinction between him, and the typical lazy American that cares more about themselves then anyone else.
"'If you say fuck you, man, I already built a thousand houses in this country, how many have you built? That doesn't go anywhere." Page 291
Response: A man that has done so much for so many people still doesn't always get the reconigtion he deserves.
"Only 20 percent of women in rural Haiti received any medical care. An estimated 5 percent had HIV." Page 259.
Response: Why is that the people who seem to need care the most, get the least of it?
Thoughts on the book:
There’s so much this book cover’s that makes me think about how messed up healthcare, in America, in Haiti, and just around the world can be. Almost all of the people in Haiti can’t afford to pay health expenses. Doctor Farmer realized that. He eliminated costs for his patients. A lot of people in America can’t pay for health expenses. They probably won’t get any help. Because there’s nowhere like Zamni Lasante for most Americans to go. But why? Capitalist agendas? Yes. Greed? Yes. Pride? Maybe. Americans are too proud and stubborn to switch to a socialist healthcare system because they were taught that socialism is bad. You know what’s bad? Ignorance is bad. Exposure is good. Because when you’re exposed to a variety of ideas that’s when you can see which idea or theory or system is the best. Right now there is a system right in front of us that works. That helps the people. But people won’t go for it. I’m glad that Doctor Farmer did for at least his small scale system of universal healthcare. I’m surprised that he isn’t banned from America with his poisonous communist ideas. But seriously, Doctor Farmer is a great guy, and I wish I could be more like him.

Homework 23- Book Response # 2

(Side-note: I find when trying to write a précis for more then a couple of chapters at a time, it is hard to keep it short while trying to express all the ideas that need to be expressed. Which is why for this post I am only writing my précis about one chapter. I will continue to include insights from all throughout the book.)

Mountains Over Mountains- The Quest of Paul Farmer, A Man Who Could Cure The World By Tracy Kidder, 2003.

Chapter 9.

Précis-

Doctor farmer was now in the place that he would turn into a fine example of medicine. Cange, Haiti. But at this time Doctor Farmer was still just a student, and was just learning about the area. One thing that he learned very quickly was that there was not a good health system, and it needed to be changed. Doctor Farmer conveyed a health census of the area, which is a torrid, poor area, that was ruined by a dam the American government funded. The results of the health census were not good. It showed a high rate of child and pregnant woman mortality. Doctor Farmer was appalled by these facts and in turn he published stories about the conditions. After the stories were published, Doctor Farmer basically dedicated his next few months to learning and instating a health system in Cange. Meanwhile, back in Boston, where the stories had been published, a very wealthy man named Tom White agreed to fund a clinic for Cange, through Doctor Farmer. This was the beginning of the health system that Doctor has put together in Cange.

Insights from the book-

“They were no longer merely asking if infant diarrhea was caused by germs but asking whether the germs were caused by dirty water. And didn’t dirty water come from the neglect of feckless, greedy, governments?” Page 98


Response: Ignorance is bliss? Education is the key to survival.

“ ‘This is terrible. You can’t even get a blood transfusion if you’re poor.’ And she said, ‘We’re all human beings’ ” Page 80


Response: You don't have to be a marxist to realize that socialized health is beneficial to all. 

“He didn’t stick around in Leogane to see the blood bank get installed. He’d found out that the hospital would charge patients for its use. He told me he had these thoughts, as he headed back to the central plateau: “I’m going to build my own fucking hospital. And there will be none of that there, thank you.” Page 81


Response: I thought that this was a great line as he realizes that if he wants a fair health system, he has to take control. 'If you want something done, you have to do it yourself.'

“In the region, only Zanmi Lasante had dared to treat people who had been beaten or shot. The army had shut the clinic down once, briefly. The place was marked. Afraid to be seen there, afraid to travel at all, many patients hadn’t come until they’d grown very ill. Many had simply stayed away.” Page 119


Response: It's horrible and unthinkable that a government would ever be there to turn people away from getting treated for whatever problem they have, but it clearly is very real. 

My thoughts/Insights-

What worries me the most is that these events were from the 90’s, but Haiti is still the same way today. Poor. I’m sure it’s just as bad now after the earthquake. The big difference now would be that because of the earthquake, more people are there to help. Whereas before it just seemed like Doctor Farmer. I’m still shocked at his perseverance towards creating a health system. He had to educate himself in creating a system, and then actually create it, essentially by himself once again. There is no way I could do that, even with the proper education. I wouldn’t be able to adapt to the lifestyle he lives. He is always around disease, poverty, and filth. I couldn’t imagine what would be running through my mind approaching somebody who hasn’t bathed in a couple of weeks, with TB, and AIDS, and not be scared for myself. Yeah it sounds wrong to be scared of somebody because they’re sick, but I think I’d like to minimize my chances of getting sick. I know there are people going out and saying, “I want to make a difference!” And then they realize what they actually have to do to help, and never do. I guess I never say I want to make a difference, that way I’m not letting anyone down when I don’t. The truth is I rather be the Tom White, the contributor through cash.

Another interesting and horrible thing I realized in the book was that the government used the health system as a weapon. You either agreed with their ideas, or didn’t get what you needed to get better. Which in a lot of cases means death. In a nation plagued by poverty and disease, this technique works well. It’s scary because there’s nobody to turn to in that situation. Especially when the countries superhero (America)  is helping the villain kill you. 

Homework 21B- T/W Team Comments #1

My Comments

To Amber:

   I think that I'm supposed to be doing beauty. If I'm not, my bad. Well when it comes to beauty, I believe there is two types of beauty to look for. Beautifully written work, and beautiful insights. I think this had a little bit of both. "When we die it is usually said that we go to a better place, so why aren’t we excited about dying and escaping from this obstacle course called life?" That line is beautiful. It shows depth of thought, insight, and truth all in one. But it's even better because of the way it's phrased. It flows well and raises a question not commonly asked. It shows beauty in both ways. There were also some good lines in this post that could have been made stonger and more beautiful. "I don’t really understand why we are all afraid of death; I guess I am being hypocritical here because I as well am afraid of death." This is a line that raises another almost unsolvable question, but it could have been said better. If it was phrased more like: We are all afraid of death, myself included, but why? Or something along those lines. I don't want to take anything away from your post, as I think it's better then my own, but always keep looking for a better way to phrase things. 

To Bianca:

    First of all, good blog post. I enjoyed reading about your interpretations of Beth's insights, and some of your own. I think that there were a lot of parts of your post where you showed good perspective and insight,such as these lines "When the death of someone we care about occurs, we subconsciously think about how this death with affect our own stability without their presence. We push their once potential-filled life into the gutter only to seek the optimum way to buffet with our mourning and sorrow." That is really deep and original, and really shows your perspective and what you are about. I would love to see more of this throughout your posts. While there was a lot of good perspective, There were times where you started to talk about an experience that you have had, and just kind of ended your idea. "Having been in the hospital a few months ago to visit an ill family member, I feel that the presence of beauty and pain had never revealed it self, however, it was there nonetheless." I feel as if you could have elaborated more there. I like the line, I just think it could have been followed up better. Overall, good post, keep up the good work.

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Thinking/Writing Team Comments

From Bianca:

     I really liked the first two topic sentence of your first paragraph: " There is a time where you have to let go. I totally agree with this idea. Nothing lasts forever. Yes, cliché, but also true." This went well in bringing the readers attention to Beth's story. Your post is very straightforward and, I applaud you because death is a difficult topic to write about because ultimately, death is vague as living humans have never experienced it. I'd like it if you had introduced your body paragraphs the same way you did for your introduction. Your transition from paragraph to paragraph is somewhat in a logical order but, try to structure your paragraphs so every topic sentence correlates to the main point you are trying to convey. There are some grammatical errors here and there. One thing to keep in mind is to remember this is a somewhat formal post; the use of the word "So" might not always be sufficient in starting out sentences.

From Amber:

    I read this through the modality of beauty, and overall I have to say you did I nice job. You connect Beth's experience with your own experiences, which was a great idea. When you wrote about your aunt Catherine's death battling lung cancer, it made me realize that sometimes you do have to let go. At some point in our lives our bodies won't be capable of taking care of us any longer; if we try to fight they might hold on a bit longer, but they will have to give up at some point.
     You used a bit of metaphorical language which I liked. I would like to see more of it. I really liked the way you did this assignment, it was not boring to read at all. At no point while reading this did I feel the need to click the little red square on the top right corner of my screen. You keep your reader interested with your thoughts. I like how you are talking directly to the reader. I don't feel like you did this assignment just to complete your homework, instead I feel like you actually wanted to aware the reader about your thoughts on illness and dying. I would recommend you to increase your font size. Also, try to question the reader, or end with a sentence that will make your reader be sure to come back to your page and check to see if you have posted another blog post.
From Ryan (Little Brother):
I think the best part from your homework was that part that talked about when you know you cant fight anymore. Its true because you cant always fight. it is not good to always fight. and you have to listen to your family because they know what is best.
From Leon (Dad):
This post was very good. But the best line from it was, "But what alarmed me about this was that I’m not sure if I was feeling sympathy because that was what I was taught to feel, or if it was genuine sympathy." It really brought out the point that sometimes the way you feel is because that is the way your taught to feel. That in some cultures the way people feel about death could be different.  I enjoyed reading the post. It represented a lot of good ideas. One thing to look for though is wordiness, be short and sweet!

Homework 22- Book Response # 1

Book Response # 1

Mountains Over Mountains- The Quest of Paul Farmer, A Man Who Could Cure The World By Tracy Kidder

Précis-

Chapters 1-4

I first met Doctor Farmer when I was traveling with American missionary troops. He came off as cocky and out of place with the Americans in Haiti.  After that brief encounter, I saw him on the plane back to the United States, and we started talking a bit. We exchanged contact information, but I didn’t hear from him until five years later. He invited me to his practice in Boston. At this point he was teaching a class at Harvard Med and working out of Brigham to practice medicine. At the hospital he seemed like a normal American Doctor, white lab coat and all. After spending a couple of days with him here, he invited me to his “real practice” in Haiti. He spends eight months out of the year in Haiti, in a hospital called Zanmi Lasante. It is the most successful hospital in Haiti, and Doctor Farmer runs it.  Of the months I spent with Doctor Farmer, I’ve seen him cure many, and never ask for anything. In fact he and his charities basically fund the Hospital. He is very generous and takes pride in curing his patients. He will literally not rest until all of his patients are being cured the best they can.

Insights from the book-

“Everyone had to pay, that is, except for almost everyone. And no one- Farmer’s rule- could be turned away.” Page 21

“A man with gastritis in late middle age. In Haiti, Farmer told me, could mean thirty years old, since 25 percent of all Haitians die before age 40.” Page 25

“The study was for him a command- to worry more about his patients’ material possessions than about their beliefs.” Page 35

“I would say, “The objective is to inculcate in the doctors and nurses the spirit to dedicate themselves to the patients, and especially to having an outcome-oriented view of TB.’ He was grinning, his face alight. He looked very young just then. ‘In other words, Fuck you.’ “ Page 42

Personal Thoughts-

I found there to be many interesting insights in this book. The last quote from the book that I posted above was my favorite from the book so far. It shows what doctor Farmer is about. He wants to help at any cost. That's what all doctors mindsets should be. Trying to give as much help and care to their patients as possible. Medicine shouldn't be about money. It should be about helping the patients get better. Doctor Farmer understands this, as he gives almost all of his money to his charities and directly to his hospital in Haiti. One of the reasons I would never become a doctor is because it is a proffesion of greed. Well at least for some doctors. And I don't want to become that greedy doctor. I rather be a greedy something else.

Homework 21- Expert # 1

Top insights/experiences from Beth:

1.     Modern society puts a blanket over death, it is no longer seen as natural.

2.     It was important for Beth to take care of her husband, not doctors.

3.     It was very important that Eric was seen for his life and not his disease in the hospital.

4.     There is a time where you have to let go.

5.     The last ten days of Eric’s life were the best ten days of their marriage because all she had to focus on was her husband.

 There is a time where you have to let go. I totally agree with this idea. Nothing lasts forever. Yes, cliché, but also true. Eric had to let go of life. Beth had to let go of Eric. I feel like it’s knowing when to fight and when to let go that’s the hard part. For Eric, there was only so much fighting that could be done towards a terminal disease. But as Beth said, he was still a fighter, and he fought until she said it was time to stop fighting and let go. From my experiences, nobody that is dying really wants to lose their life; they want to fight for life. This is, until they realize that they can’t fight anymore because it won’t do any good, or more commonly they are told they can’t change what is happening. An experience I have with this was when my Aunt Catherine was dying. She devoted her life to teaching. She was always putting other people before herself. So when she was diagnosed with untreatable lung caner, it was time for her to put herself first. She fought and fought wouldn’t give up. But the fighting was only delaying the inevitable result of death. And the more she fought, the worst her health got. She didn’t have to fight anymore. So her father told her that it’s okay to let go. That she would be happier letting go. So she let go, and she died. But she seemed like she was happier dying this way. She let go of life, and we let go of her. The experiences I have with the idea of letting go are similar to Beth’s, showing a possible trend in the process of dying. But as there are people like Beth and I who believe there is only so much fighting somebody can do, there has to be an opposition who says that fighting as much as you can is the best way to go. Because if there weren’t two sides to the idea, we would either see everybody fighting or submitting. Which definitely is not the reality of things.

Modern society puts a blanket over death, it is no longer seen as natural. I definitely agree that modern society tries to almost hide death, but I also think that it is still seen as natural. While I don’t have any statistical evidence saying, “92% of America believes death is natural.” There is something that we do that shows we still feel death is a natural thing. Society tells young children that death is just something that has to happen, that it is natural. Because society tries to shield our young from the cruel and harsh realities of the world, society tells them what we want them to believe. If society is still telling our kids it is natural, chances are, that’s what we believe too. As for masking trying to mask death, that’s why dying happens in a hospital, around people that mostly have no emotional attachment to you. Personally, most of my family opts to spend this “dying time” where they feel comfortable, which is generally in their homes. So I don’t have much experience with dying in your home versus in a hospital. But I imagine that dying in your home must be a much more pleasing experience, as most of my family chooses this way, and from the way Beth described it. Being at home seems much more personal and pleasurable.

Though I was absent for the actual presentation, I know about Beth’s story, and I had notes from fellow classmates. So it still sparked some thought’s into my head, even though I think I would have more if I were there for the actual presentation. The first thing I started to think about was, when the time comes, be it next week, or in sixty years, how will I deal with dying? It kind of bothers me that I can’t answer that question.  There are just too many factors to consider. My age, what I am dying of, what type of family I have, where I am, and the list can go on and on. I guess I’ll just have to live, or maybe better said, die, in the moment. Another thing that came in to my head while learning about this story was sympathy. Which is probably a pretty common emotion when thinking about this story. But what alarmed me about this was that I’m not sure if I was feeling sympathy because that was what I was taught to feel, or if it was genuine sympathy. I think it may be a little bit of both, but I think I don’t feel pure genuine sympathy because I never really had to deal with a situation like this. I understand how losing somebody like that isn’t a good experience by any means, and how painful it is, but I also believe you can’t fully understand something until you have personal experience with it.  

Homework 19- Parents thoughts about illness and dying. With some from yours truly.

My beliefs when it comes to Medicine are simple; if something works that’s what I want. Whether it is allopathic or holistic doesn’t really make a difference. Efficiency is priority when it comes to being sick for me. When I get sick I go to my doctor, who fits the typical American doctor-type. His practice is in an office environment, he has a medical degree from NYU, and yes, he does have a white lab coat. He is that stereotypical doctor, looks at you as a patient; he doesn’t really form a real personal connection with you.  He finds what’s wrong with you (most of the time), tells you what options you have to treat it, you pick one, and he sends you on your way. It’s an industrial system, and I have no problem fitting into it. The reason I’m fine with it might because the way my parents deal with sickness. Especially my mom, considering that she is the one who takes care of me while I’m sick.

            I took the time to ask my mom about the different aspects of illness and dying. The first thing that we discussed is the idea of holistic medicine versus allopathic because that is what we had been talking about in class. One interesting thing that came up was the idea of no medicine at all. To let your body fight the disease on it’s own. My mother believes that if you don’t need to take medicine, you shouldn’t. She said that the body’s immune system could fight off most diseases in time if it has the chance. Well if no medicine is used, does that fall under holistic? I think that it depends on what you are doing while sick. Like if you are eating soups or other foods that people believe to speed up healing, it could be recognized as using holistic medicine. When I brought that up to my mom, she rebutted, saying with that logic anything that you believed helped heal you while you were sick can be considered holistic medicine. That’s the problem with the holistic vs. allopathic debate, while allopathic medicine is more defined and standardized, holistic medicine can range from your homemade hangover remedy to acupuncture.

            As our conversation progressed I asked my mom how she views dying. I know this question is very broad, and not the type of question that we should normally be asking, but I wanted to see how she would react. I wanted to know her complete thought process about dying. At first, she seemed puzzled, like I was attacking her with my question. She asked me what I meant by my question. I think she felt the same way I felt when you asked me that question.  I was thrown off by it because it’s just not a question that is usually asked. Dying is considered so negative that people try to think about it as little as possible. I guess my reaction was similar to hers because it’s just something that we don’t talk about. It’s a taboo. But she discussed it with me nevertheless, saying how she doesn’t think of dying in the same way as most people. She thinks about it differently in the setting, that dying should be done in an environment that the person feels comfortable with. That dying in a hospital is not the way to go, because you try to be at a hospital as little as possible in life. So why would you spend possibly the most precious moments of your life there? I wasn’t surprised by this answer because that’s how I see dying. And why do I see dying like this? Because that’s how my mom has taught me to see dying.

            To go more in-depth about how she felt about dying, I asked her how she would like to be cared for while dying. She said it depends on what’s happening to cause her death. She said that based off of her experience with her father and grandparent’s deaths, it made her realize that sometimes if you can come to terms with your dying, it’s easier to not fight it. That you should go against the common belief of doing anything to live longer. Because when your not trying to fight whatever is killing you, you have the time and energy to actually enjoy the last moments of life that you have left. That idea really spoke to me. People are always obsessed with trying to preserve and extend life. But if they are spending all the time they have trying to create more of it, how are they supposed to enjoy the time they already have? Dying is a part of life, and accepting death can make life a whole lot more enjoyable. That cliché saying, “Live each day like it’s your last” is true to an extent. If you enjoy life a lot, when it comes time to die, it might not be so bad.