A right-wing doctor faces the reality of our failing healthcare system.

[OHDEM]

My parents are very good friends with a surgeon who lives on their street. They've known "The Doc" (fake name to protect privacy) for years and he even operated on my Dad's hernia. My Mom told me that they don't discuss politics because The Doc and his wife are Republicans and they don't agree. Doc's wife couldn't believe my parents put up an Obama sign! (My Mom is a lifelong Dem and my Dad is an Independent - pretty cynical in his not-yet-so old age.) The Doc did tell my parents that he thought any gov't healthcare was a mistake and would hurt doctors like him and hurt quality of care.

A few months ago, pretty much out of nowhere - The Doc's kidneys failed. He was fortunate that one of his children was a match and he is now recovering from this scare and even talking about going back to work. My parents visit them often and have tried to be there for their friends.

The other day, The Doc and his wife came over for dinner and started talking about healthcare reform. My Mom was shocked - again, they don't talk politics. My Mom said that she thought they were against reform. The Doc said, "Well, something has to be done..."

Makes me wonder....Did dealing with the healthcare system, even with coverage and a doctor's income, wake The Doc up? Does he now realize that the interfence of insurance companies actually hampers care? Does he see that a tragedy such as his would have sent most Americans - even those WITH insurance, straight to the poor house?

Is it just me, or do Repubicans only truly understand issues when they're forced to face reality?

Please send good thoughts to The Doc. Let's hope more people like him wake up to the realities of our system without having to go thru all that!

[Ikonoklast]

1. The epiphany comes after it's too late, for some.

When you need life-saving health care, and the insurance industry wants to ration it, that's your problem.

When I need it...

[gratuitous]

2. I'll take every ally I can get

Even a mule-headed Republican doctor. It's also possible that the current system made The Doc a very good living for many years. Why would he want to screw around with that? But when, as you note, he faces the reality of the system from the other side of the examining room table, perhaps he has a better understanding of what his patients have been going on and on about for all these years.

It's said that the newest converts sing loudest in the choir. Let's hope that a doctor who presumably knows the system very well can add his voice to the cause of reform as an effective and knowledgeable advocate. Because every last one of us is going to get sick at some time in our lives.

[Fumesucker]

3. do Repubicans only truly understand issues when they're forced to face reality?

Yes..

This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.

[pnwmom]

4. I'm hearing more and more about children donating kidneys to their parents.

As a parent, that doesn't seem right to me.

[OHDEM]

6. Actually, there are all kinds of rules about who can donate.

Who knew? It may vary by state and I'm not sure if this is a law or insurance company policy, but The Doc was told that he couldn't ask anyone and only family could be tested! The stupidity of it might be what changed his thinking.

Also, friends of ours who needed bone marrow for their daughter were also told they couldn't ask.

Again, I'm not sure whose rule that is...but it seems odd.

[pnwmom]

8. Not being able to ask for bone marrow for a child -- that's terrible!

Which state was that?

The problem with adult children donating a kidney to a parent is that they -- or any siblings-- may be subject to their own kidney problems one day. I'd rather my children were able to help a sibling with a kidney than give one to me. It doesn't seem right for a young person to make that kind of sacrifice for a parent who is already past middle age. Parents are meant to make those kind of sacrifices for their children, not the other way around.

[OHDEM]

9. I tend to agree.

I'm in Ohio and the child in question was just 2 years old. Her sister (6) tested as a match, but upon further tests it was determined that the 2-year-old hadn't responded to the chemo she'd already received. She passed away last October. :-(

As far as other donors, it might have to do with insurance, but also ethics. There is a lot of controversy about the prospect of people paying for organs ie rich taking advantage of poor for their own health benefit.

[jedr]

5. To me; Republicans fall into two broad groups,

The first being brain dead lower middle class people who have no higher education and can be manipulated by fear, bigotry , nationalism and religion. The second being people WITH money and have been republicans for years because their money was protected there. The second group seems to be coming to the conclusion that destroying the middle class is not going to benefit them. By destroying health care so only the very rich can afford it ,not to mention the other middle class economic benefits , is going to take them down too. I have relatives that fit into the second group that also are seeing the light. Let's hope that with the new administration, a middle ground can be reached and the second group of 'pubs start moving to our side.....the first group has no hope!

[WhiteTara]

7. they only care when it happens to them.

That is why it is my social and political obligation to wish only the worst of everything for Republicans.