Connecting The Dots of Healthcare

Colin Cowherd, ESPN Radio host, on the Thundering Herd (June 12):

“I’ve said this before, and I’m dead serious. The world would be a better
place if everybody went to Duke. People that go to Duke are just smarter and
better than everybody else. And that’s why I’m bringing Shane Battier
on…..From now on I’m only allowing people who went to Duke on my radio
show to talk NBA. They’re smarter, they’re better, they’re more decent, and
they got hosed in that lacrosse thing….I’m pro-Duke University….The
world is a better place if everybody went to Duke….What’s the downside to
Duke? What is one criticism of Duke? There’s not even a criticism of Duke.
They’re good-looking, they wear nice clothes, they have nice parents, smell
good, get good grades, benefit the society. Plus, they have to make up for
all of North Carolina’s mistakes.”
 

I’m a Blue Devil. When I was an undergraduate Duke Basketball sucked.

ONLY after I was in medical school did we start winning. But more and more I hear how some people “hate Duke.” They hate Coach K. They hate the players…

BECAUSE???? 

I believe because they’re successful. Success breeds contempt. Some people love to see the winners lose.

Some people love to see physicians get a good ol’ come-uppance.

But in a society that places more value on taking heads with 20 second sound bites assailing healthcare and offering innane “solutions” to problems they don’t grasp,  MTV, and what clinic, (or jail), Paris or Britney has checked into, or  what the The Girls Next Door are up to…won’t know what they’ve helped destroy by ignorance, until they, or someone they care for needs a doctor.

And when the same element of the public complains because their doctor works 9-5,  doesn’t seem to care, doesn’t listen, herds patients in and out of the office and treats ‘em like a pieces of meat… who will they blame?

If you want people to take care of you, you’ve got to take care of them. When, through ignorance, people “hate doctors,” and continue to allow reimbursement cuts, soaring malpractice premiums, continued loss of physician autonomy, and “restructuring of healthcare” where caregivers are marginalized, they’ll really hate doctors when the exodus of frustrated practicing dedicated physicians continues and when medicine fails to attract the best minds because they don’t want the uncertainty of a medical career.

I guess then they’ll switch off the Duke game, (because they “hate Duke”), and watch another episode of Scrubs, and wonder why they can’t find a decent doctor.  

Don’t hate Doctors or Duke simply because they work hard, make extra effort, and overcome obstacles to succeed. I don’t even hate UNC when they beat Duke. OK, I really, really, don’t like it and it drives me crazy and I think black thoughts for a day or two. But if another team, in or out of the ACC, (even North Carolina), is better than my team for a given game, I can’t “hate” the better team.  I trust Coach K will improve team performance and recruit and develop winners and the fans will help in the effort. And we’ll win the next time.

But in medicine, the recruiting numbers have been sliding for years and we’re not sure where the fans have gone.

It’s one thing to lose a basketball game. It’s another thing entirely to lose a life.