Medical Care at Crossroads

A large percentage of the American economy is spent on health care. (In 2002, the latest year for which comparable data are available, the United States spent $5,267 on health care for each man, woman and child in the population.) I have spent my entire life in the health care field, working my way through eight years of university training, retiring as a medical officer, a member of the staff of several army hospitals and now watching the devastation of the greatest health care system known to man. Because, from our own flaws and warts, mostly from the greed of drug manufacturers and the drug pushers motivated in skillful stores, TV and stores have advertised Rx drugs like paper towels. “The chickens have come home to roost,” according to the favorite preacher of President Obama (Reverend Wright).

My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did not have much respect for imposter preachers or impotent politicians but they always loved their doctor; whether medical, dental, optometric, osteopathic, naturopathic or chiropractic. My grandmother named one of her daughters for the doctor who delivered her. The community never forgot the 'horse and buggy' Dr. Hayes who ventured into the pandemic flu of 1918, a community almost decimated by the disease (and the family cemetery so many graves unmarked because they were dying so fast, they could not remember who was buried in each grave). Dr. Hayes, like so many in the community, died from the same disease which now threatens again.

Doctors, like pastors, are called into their profession by almighty God, BECAUSE HE HAS A PLAN FOR EACH LIFE, CHARACTER DETERMINES DESTINY. After a young person has prepared throughout their academic life to be accepted in this course of study, to run the gauntlet of books and laboratories, the stress of money from hard-pressed parents, the risks of having invested everything; life, liberty, and a DISCIPLINE of life which many people will never understand, to think that one with this type ability will become just another government employee, stripped naked of the prestige and decision making acumen, the very foundation of the difference of life and death situations, it is an insult to the professions and an embarrassment to the nation that these malcontent politicians, ne'er-do-well, except in the areas of corruption, will enslave both doctors and patient.

The great botanist, Dr. Couch at UNC-CH said, “Only if we had the one tree of knowledge that was in the first garden, we would have the answer to most of our pharmaceutical problems.” The greatest doctors are the oldest doctors. I always said, that I did not want any surgeon operating on me who was not so old that he could barely hold the scalpel. Then, I knew that he had done the surgery many times before. I don't want a young man cutting on me, certainly not on vital organs. Often I think of the many patients to whom I would like to apologize on which I experimented as a young practitioner. I hear the talk about the cost of the health care of old people, most Medicare dollars are spent for those over 85 years of age; but, realistic statistics show that most government dollars are spent on people ages 15 to 65. I understand there are 600 lobbyists in Washington just trying to influence the votes of 100 senators. Our greatest inventions came from citizens in their golden years, Fulton - the steam engine, Howell - the sewing machine, and Whitney – the cotton gin. Michaelangelo was 75 when he did his greatest work, (the frescoes in the Pope's summer palace.)

The 56 men who signed our Declaration of Independence, risking everything for this great nation the 126, 000 of our finest young men who lie buried in foreign soil believing in the promises of this nation, could never be convinced that we have fallen so far so rapidly. Today's politicians are only interested in securing for themselves face time on television, notoriety and lucrative board appointments for the remainder of their lives. They could care less about the hardworking, coupon-clipping, families in the struggle for survival. TV evangelists, pastors of mega churches, (Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood, Houston who said in an interview recently that Mormons are Christians even though he knows as we know, that Mormons believe Jesus was married to both Mary and Martha, that he, in his first miracle turning water into wine, was at his own wedding) know that the average church-goer has itching ears coveting good news even from the pulpit. “Itching ears” want comedy, not the gospel, for which they can laugh and clap. The musical group, U2, was described recently “as believing Christians but not practicing Christians.” I thought, does this not apply to the average unbelieving church-goer. Do we not understand, could anyone possibly get any other knowledge from the precious Word of God, that baptism and the communion table is only for believers. “In the mixed multitude” (Moses' big problem) we find the problem for today's churches that have become just country clubs with steeples. (II Thessalonians 2: 9 – 10.)

I was never a popular speaker because as that wonderful movie said, “no one wants to hear the truth,” (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, 1975). The truth is the truth whether anyone believes it or not. Pilate, who was more concerned with his 15 year old new wife than he was with justice, said to our blessed Lord, “What is truth?”

The truth is the family home has almost been destroyed by recent inventions such as the television set, the internet and every moving human being talking on a telephone. The dirty book stores and every form of perversion has moved from the back alleys into your living room. Then you wonder why the mental health clinics are overrun. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, antidepressants, addictions, tranquilizers are as natural on the human tongue now as aspirin and the common cold a few years ago. In this microwave society, we want health and tranquility without paying the price of exercise and spiritual fulfillment. Psychiatrists and that useless profession, psychology are not the only ones getting rich off the mental harassment of the world. News flashes continuously bombard us with the freaky aspects of same sex marriage, the holocaust of abortion, rehabilitation, politicians and media who thrive on tax dollars coming from the disparagement of human nature. Recently, we learned that $635 million dollars appropriated in NC for the treatment of mental problems has just been lost, (like in Washington D.C. where money is made from just thin air, and in NC, if not payoffs in men's bathrooms, tremendous sums like this lost in just thin air,) when in a mental hospital like Cherry, a patient was neglected for 24 hours before death.

Of course, politicians like many in the health care community just lie and, the media and the public love lies and deceit. Michael Jackson, a tragic 50 year old who just died and whose entire life was just one big lie, and you can buy books on the enormity of his mental problems (the next selling for $165.00) is just one example of how the normal, how the Christian, how the concerned are despised. We love the bizarre, the exotic, unique, the sin, not the sinner. Certificates and diplomas certifying abilities to treat anything have become just worthless pieces of paper, almost as worthless as the paper we have in our pockets pretending to be money. Most lives are spent, “just going through the motions”.

I'm an old man, I urge you to live everyday, every minute as if it could be your last. Run every race expecting to win. In every task, expect it to be your best. Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor, was once asked to perform before a small group. The chairman said, “we cannot pay you much, this is just a small group.” Caruso said, “regardless of size, regardless of pay, Caruso always does his best.” This is the way to face every day of your life. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)