Health Care and SiCKO

Say what you will about Michael Moore and his controversial movies, but his newest, “SiCKO” is going to get a lot of people talking. Health care reform is shaping up to be a major issue in the coming presidential elections, with Senators Obama and Edwards preaching universal health care and Sen. Clinton reworking her past health care reform attempts. What “SiCKO” will do is help expand the idea of serious health care reform past DC political junkies and into the mainstream.

Do we really have the worst health care system in the western world, as Michael Moore would have us believe? Is major change in our current system even possible? If you’re interested in learning more about the issues raised in “SiCKO”, Health Care Half-Truths: Too Many Myths, Not Enough Reality is a great comprehensive overview. Written by the provost of the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine and a Health Policy Analyst at UVA, reading this thoroughly researched book will ensure that your opinions on health care reform are informed by more than just one source.

One aspect of corruption in our medical care that was left out of “SiCKO” is the coalition of pharmaceutical companies and doctors at the expense of medical ethics. Hooked: How Medicine’s Dependence on the Pharmaceutical Industry Undermines Professional Ethics addresses just that. Doctors get all kinds of perks from the pharmaceutical industry, from pens to baseball tickets to attention and ego-stroking. All of this gets in the way of doctors making decisions that are good for the patient, including the case of the woman who was on nine medications from the American doctor and was able to cut back to five after getting care overseas.

This is an open forum, and we welcome discussion on this and any other issues posted in this blog. Have you read the books and disagree with their points? Do you know more about the benefits/drawbacks of our current health care system? Comment below!

Comments

[jdach]

What is the real solution, if Michael Moore’s government sponsored universal health care is not the answer?

The crux of the "SICKO" documentary is the disconnect between our expectations and the reality of health care. We are expecting compassionate care from another human being, and instead we get a faceless corporation. The person behind the desk or window is an agent of a health care corporation, which is not a human being, whose primary goal is to increase corporate profit.

This is America, and corporate profit is good, the profit motive forming the basis America’s greatness. The basic problem is that a corporation is not a human being. Therein lies the fallacy of replacing a corporation with a government agency, neither of which is a human being, when what we really want is a human being to deliver compassionate health care, and assist in serious health care decisions.

Review of "SICKO", by Jeffrey Dach MD

http://jeffreydach.com/2007/07/08/sicko--michael-moore-and-the-crisis-in-health-care-by-jeffrey-dach-md.aspx

Jeffrey Dach MD
http://www.drdach.com/

[Julia Schopick]

What a wonderful review of SiCKO this is -- and what a terrific use of your blog to let people know about your company’s books. Until now, I had never heard of either of the books you cited in your SiCKO review. Now, I definitely intend to read both. I also plan to spend more time on your site.

In your review, you bring up some excellent points, both about SiCKO itself, and about some of the things the film does NOT cover –- such as the physician/Big Pharma financial connection.

You bring up an especially important point in your online blurb about “Hooked: How Medicine's Dependence on the Pharmaceutical Industry Undermines Professional Ethics,” which states: “. . . for real improvement to occur, the doctors themselves need to not only change their behavior, but also change how they view the actions of their peers and colleagues.”

Amen.

This brings to mind the controversy that erupted following David Armstrong’s July 2006 whistle-blowing "Wall Street Journal" article, "Drug Interactions: Financial Ties to Industry Cloud Major Depression Study."

In his article, Armstrong wrote about how JAMA, the AMA’s official journal, had published the findings of a study for which the doctors/researchers involved had a combined total of OVER SIXTY financial ties to Big Pharma! Armstrong’s article is reprinted at http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/286/27/ )

Being a medical advocate and writer myself, I was especially shocked when I learned that the doctors themselves –- the ones who had taken Big Pharma’s money without disclosing their ties –- really did NOT think that what they’d done was wrong.

As Armstrong reported:

"The researchers, including Dr. Cohen [the lead author], maintain that their financial links have no bearing on their research work or what they say about antidepressant use during pregnancy in interviews or lectures. The pharmaceutical companies say the academic researchers they work with provide important expertise that benefits patients. 'It is important to remember that this is a partnership with the mutual goal of advancing science and enhancing patient care,' says a Pfizer spokeswoman."

How gullible do these physicians and pharmaceutical companies think we are?

I followed up on Armstrong’s revelations with my own 3-part series, “The JAMA Controversy” on my blog, HonestMedicine.com. Please see http://301url.com/jama-all . In my articles, I explored the fact that JAMA had gone the extra mile, by providing Video News Releases (VNRs, or fake news), to the media to publicize this study.

You’re absolutely right: These financial ties between physicians and Big Pharma pose a huge problem.

But SiCKO also left out lots of other problems with our healthcare system.

For instance, the “care” our “fully insured” citizens get inside America’s hospitals. As the recent widow of a 15-year brain tumor survivor, I can tell you that -- even with a "Cadillac," non-HMO insurance policy -- lots of mistakes occurred in several of our "top" hospitals.

A few of the things that happened to my husband include: Leaving him unattended by anyone except his wife (me) for 10 hours in the emergency room, while his head leaked cranial fluid. The doctors and nurses were just “too busy” to notice, even though I kept telling them.

And do you know what "death by decimal" is? That's when a patient is given either 10 times the amount -- or 1/10 of the amount -- of a prescribed medication. That happened to my husband several times, too.

And there was more -- much more.

It will come as no surprise that I, too, have written a review of SiCKO for HonestMedicine.com. I hope you’ll check it out, as well.

Who knows? Maybe someday I'll write a book.

But in the meantime, thanks so much for your wonderful review –- and for letting me know about your books.

Julia Schopick
www.HonestMedicine.com
www.WebBasedPR.com