Letter to the editor:

Profits are trumping patients’ interests

Jody L. Jameson, Las Vegas

Tuesday, March 4, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

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.

Discussion: 1 comment so far…

By tvangrove

3/4/08 at 5:18 p.m.

Suggest removal

I completely agree with this letter. Medical services CAN'T work in a for profit environment, since the number one method of increasing profits is cutting costs. Imagine if our military, police, or fire departments were for profit. That would be somewhat of a farce.

In the old days, there were private fire departments. If you paid, they put the fire out on your property. If you didn't, your house burned down. Then some smart person figured out that if their neighbor's house burned down because of lack of payment, it might just burn your house down. In otherwords, it is in the best economic interest of both Republicans and Democrats to have government paid for fire departments.

The same analogy goes for medical care. It is economically bad for the USA to have for-profit healthcare. Especially when our businesses are competing with other countries.

So whoever you vote for, if they don't believe in a national health care solution, your candidate must like wasting money and endangering lives.

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