|
|
|
OPINION
|
IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?
By Scott Simpson
"The Doctor is In!" exclaimed posters across the country this fall. Howard Dean and his underdog campaign have provided the most captivating story of the 2004 presidential election so far. But in the face of legions of devoted Deaniacs and the spectacular success of his grassroots fundraising strategy - as well as his precipitous collapse - a crucial facet of Governor Dean's story has been overshadowed. A doctor running for President?
Unlike law, business or even academic fields like economics, medicine has never been a particularly traditional track to politics. No physician has ever become president. For most doctors, medicine is a calling over and above a career; it requires a tremendous investment and a willingness to work long hours in a career that often lasts until late in life. Few give up the daily fight against sickness in order to pursue a career many deem absurd and illogical; and yet, more often than ever, physicians have been doing just that. Indeed, the Senate Majority Leader is now Bill Frist, MD (R-TN), who joins Dr. Dean and a handful of physicians in the medical profession's new foray into elected leadership. This is a trend beneficial not only to American health care but also to American politics as a whole.
The values instilled through medical training and strengthened in years of medical practice are the very qualities that are often lacking among public officials. Medical school is a scientific education, and while running for office requires that doctors adopt partisan platforms for the sake of electability, principles of research, objective evaluation, and diagnosis from empirical evidence can act as a check to such crass loyalties. Physicians stand to bring a reassuring dose of sensibility into public policy - policy that is often dictated by long-accepted ideological divisions, or the influence of special interests. You might not always agree with your elected physician - doctors clearly have strong political opinions, too - but consider the type of training that doctors go through: the goal is correct diagnosis and treatment, a process of figuring out the truth. Now compare that with the legal training so much more prevalent among powerful politicians, in which the truth is obscured and made subordinate to complex legal strategies. Then consider who you might want in office.
In addressing the myriad social and political tribulations of today, physicians are unusual among the educated elite. Young physicians' internships and residencies are often among less affluent populations. On the one hand, doctors are well-educated citizens, but on the other, their work often brings them in close contact with populations that greatly need government support and yet are commonly overlooked. In particular, sickness is a profoundly equalizing experience in its ability to strike down people at any level of society. Doctors' day-to-day professional contact with patients facilitates a point of view, subconsciously or otherwise, that humanizes people who are often relegated to a statistic. Would you trust anyone more than a doctor to keep a stranger's interests at heart? According to opinion polls, medical vocations consistently rank among the most trustworthy and honorable of professions.\
Also, the serious medical conditions and trauma that doctors deal with regularly provide a valuable perspective on the bickering of statehouses. Bill Frist was a heart-lung transplant surgeon at Vanderbilt University; such experience imparts - in a very personal manner - a sense of duty and responsibility that Dr. Frist, now Senator, undoubtedly considers in his policy analysis today. Relative to petty and divisive politics, transplanting hearts is a weighty experience that prepares public leaders for the high stakes of national politics while grounding them in the daily experiences of all Americans.
All these aspects speak nothing to the benefit that doctors in office bring to American health care. Like it or not, this country's medical system is heavily socialized and government-run: with Medicare and Medicaid, state and county hospitals, Veterans Affairs and military hospitals, federal grants for medical education and research, tax breaks and subsidies for pharmaceutical companies, the Public Health Service, and voluminous legislation on health insurance, elected leaders directly influence most of this country's medical institutions. Physicians in office bring their personal experiences to bear on these issues in a way that will never be possible for congressional fact-finding commissions.
To wrest healthcare away from harmful corporate ties and overwhelming bureaucratic inefficiency, physicians must not only hold offices of power: the medical establishment as a whole must engage in politics. The average political donation for a physician is $3, compared to almost $1000 for a practicing lawyer; this has grave implications for the practice of medicine and, ultimately, for the health of all Americans. At one time or another, everyone is a patient.
Electing doctors to office is an important step not only in finding solutions to America's dangerously precarious health system, but also in bringing to power responsible individuals who stand against the partisanship and corruption that characterize American politics today. For America, physicians in political office stand to bring a depth of experience, a breadth of social perspective and, hopefully, a better prescription for governance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
