Skip to main content

so called compassion

I don't wax politically philosophical often but today I read yet another conservative leaning piece justifying the ever increasing profit margins of the pharmaceutical industry, citing the favorite argument. Namely, without the monetary incentive the greatest minds would look elsewhere to spend their time and energy which would in turn only harm the sickest among us. The incentives are needed to develop new life-saving treatments. It's really compassion, see? 


As I processed the article, the following thoughts began to crystallize in my heart.


Historically, some of the greatest minds were drawn towards medicine not because of its monetary value, but its virtuous. It was Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, who encouraged his students to treat all peoples the same, making no distinction between friend and foe, rich and poor. "Sometimes give your services for nothing," he advocated. Perhaps this shift away from wanting to do good for personal growth towards wanting to do good for personal gain is a reflection of the intrinsic moral change happening within our borders. A growing sense of deep selfishness is on display in every direction, including within the health care industry. As the parent of a child with a rare disease, this trend is frightening and grieving. Is that an emotional response? Perhaps. The talking heads would certainly accuse me so. Yet, I know of at least one pharmaceutical company which purchased the rights to a drug they did not develop and proceeded to use (or abuse) these so-called incentives to go on and develop precisely nothing. Then they cashed out. This is factual data, not emotion. I am prone to believe they cannot be alone in their business model. Spare me the "this if for the good of the sick children" and your "limited perspective" speeches until a cure for rare epilepsy is discovered. Currently, the closest we've come to that end hasn't been found in the well-incentivized pharmaceutical industry. Look west, towards the Rockies where the medical refugees have flocked. Or up, to the OR where a neuro-surgeon is performing radical brain surgery for a fraction of the cost of some of these drugs. 


This "the cost is compassion" argument highlights one of the reasons why I have been slowly walking away from mainstream conservatism. I cannot align myself with a party that can justify this kind of manipulation of the system while winking and telling me it's for my child. It is the utmost hypocrisy to claim pro-life allegiance while the child is in the womb, only to abandon him when he is born with a rare disease. Clearly, I am an emotional parent with limited perspective to believe that the health of a civilization encompasses more than its profit margins. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

No, I don’t know him personally

  I’ve had several emails today asking if I know Mike W. of Marissa’s Bunny personally.    Trevy’s blog was linked on her site.  Although it’s not now.     I’ve posted here and there at his request.  Because…well…we’re a community.  Us IS families.  And Marissa is wicked cute.  Her daddy has a way with words.  Also who wouldn’t want the world to know about an iPad give-away?    But aside from that…I know about as much as you do.    We’ve never met in person.    Our only communication has been cyber.    I’m a ginormous sap and as such would love to believe that all is right.  That the sweet, beautiful families who were promised iPads will be getting them tonight.  Tomorrow at the latest.  That no one has been lied to.  That the personal thank you for your generosity email I sent him on behalf of other IS families I’ve grown to love and was thrilled to learn w...

the great answer hunt in the land of Infantile Spasms

If I've said it once... I've thought it a million times more. How it's like the more I research...and discover...about IS. The more blurry everything becomes. For every answer found. A dozen questions are unearthed. Remember our whole ARX saga ? Yeah...that threw me for a loop. So much so...that I never went on to post the end of the story. Thus far... See...the unbelievable in the world of genes happened. Because this is IS-ville after all. After Dr. Genes sampled Trevy's ARX gene on a whim...a whim which revealed an unkown (meaning the first time this specific change was found) mild mutation...she proceeded to send Toby's blood off to mad scientist central. With assurances that this was totally unnecessary . She was convinced that Trevor's ARX mutation was the underlying cause of his Infantile Spasms. And that Typical Toby...would prove to be just that. Typical...at least in all areas mutate-able. And yet...Toby's ARX blood sample revealed THE SAME MIL...

I sure hope...

they grow back curly! Saw the "unknown" flashing on the face of my cell phone and knew who it was. Who it had to be. Dr. Fellow. My eyes met Grams' and I nodded. Grams has a pool, see. For super hot days like today. We're also having a septic installed. Which meant no water or facilities at my place. But those weren't really the reasons I was there. Close to mom. The purple ringing thing in my hand was. Only I wasn't prepared for it to be ringing SO darn soon. Shortly after lunch instead of dinner! I swallowed. Took a deep breath. And clicked connect. Dr. Fellow has a very nice phone tone. Clear. Hint of compassion. If only a stitch of humor were added...it'd be heavenly. But there was no humor. Just business. He's very direct. I'm learning that about him. Which explains his short hello. Followed by immediately pushing into the news. Being that it was a unanimous consensus. The entire surgical committee feels Trevor is a good candidate. And then p...