Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Profits are trumping patients’ interests

Syringes being reused to save money? Doctors and nurses seeking a profit rather than upholding the Hippocratic oath to keep the sick from “harm and injustice”?

Are we really surprised? Medicine is a for-profit industry. It follows that when you cut costs, net profits rise. Obviously, doctors have to cut costs where they can, and it isn’t shocking that oftentimes a desire to make money comes before the best interest of the patient.

If police or fire departments (also essential to public safety) were in the business of making money, we would expect fires to go unheeded that weren’t worth the money to put out. Dangerous criminals would be running loose on the streets because keeping them locked up is too expensive.

The problem with operating a service essential to public safety for a profit (What about the staff members at the clinic who didn’t blow the whistle? Maybe they had bills to pay?) is that the best interest of the patient will always be left in the dust as long as there is money to be made.

Vote for a presidential candidate with a meaningful health care plan this fall. If you’re still alive.

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