Doctors Are Still the Key to Medical Care

Remember when everyone's love, Nancy Pelosi, urged immediate passage of Obamacare, that when it was in force would be time enough to learn what it contained and how it would affect individuals and companies?  Well, Obamacare  was passed without one vote to spare and we have learned that among other things it means less choice, fewer doctors, higher costs, poorer care, and higher taxes.

We know that medical care is expensive and will remain so.  Medical advancements come with a cost, but none of us would want to go back to the days before vaccinations for polio and small pox and before the use of technology to discover and treat medical problems.  One thing remains unchangeable, the importance of not only the doctor's knowledge but his attitude towards his patients.  Two events that  stand out in  in my memory illustrate this.  I don't know the exact dates of either, although they had to be near the same time, and I am almost certain the second was in 1932.  

     A Gold Watch to Save an Ill Child

Our rural area was served by one telephone line to the exchange.  It was built and maintained by the subscribers, each of who had an assigned ring although neighbors would often listen in to any call because most calls were about serious matters.  A neighbor, I do not remember who, came to our house to phone his doctor.  The phone was in the front hall and, as people spoke loudly to get their message across, one side of the conversation could be heard throughout the house.  The man informed the doctor that his child was very sick and he begged the doctor to come and save his life.  Apparently, the doctor told the father that he already owed him for a previous visit.  The neighbor said he would pay when he got some money.  The conversation went on and on with the father pleading and the doctor refusing.  Finally the man said he had a gold watch he would give if only the doctor would come.  I am sorry to say that I don't remember, if I ever knew, whether the doctor relented or how the child progressed.

     "If we sink, we'll all sink together"

This involves a sister, a baby at that time, who screamed constantly from excruciating pain from ear infections. Mom and Dad took her to the family doctor for treatment.  Dad told the doctor that he could give him a check and if the bank opened it would be good, but at any rate, he would find a way to pay him.  Dad said the doctor replied, "Don't worry, if we sink, we'll all sink together."  The family doctor referred them to the surgeon in an adjoining office, who happened to be the doctor of the first story related.  This doctor demanded payment right then, asking, don't people realize doctors have to eat too?  What ever arrangements were made, the doctor lanced the child's ears and eased her pain.  It's true today as it was then, it helps to have a good doctor and it never hurts to have money.