12.29.2004
Dr. Politics
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/24/2471
http://www.slate.com/id/2111432/
This is the guy I was talking about the other day. He has a penchant for lending his authority as a surgeon to talk about topical issues. He is good with rhetoric - tone aimed at the layman, even when he is writing for NEJM, and always the personal touch - an individual who died, someone he knew.
These articles are about how Iraq is as dangerous as Vietnam was if you account for advances in medical technology.
The nation's military surgical teams are under tremendous pressure, but they have performed remarkably in this war. They have transformed the strategy for the treatment of war casualties. They have saved the lives of an unprecedented 90 percent of the soldiers wounded in battle. And they have done so under extraordinarily difficult conditions and with heroic personal sacrifices.
Funny how doctors work to reduce the lethal wounds rate from 25% to 10% in 30 years - so that 15% of wounded soldiers live when 3 decades ago they would have died - and this works to conserve political capital and manpower so we can fight longer. I suppose doctors face this dilemma often - patient by patient, they fight the forces that push us in perils way - diet, poverty, misinformation, war, without having any impact on the root causes.
I always look for the policy behind Dr. Gawande's work. I think it is here:
Compounding the difficulties, none of these realities have made it appealing to sign up as a military surgeon. Interest in joining the reserves has dropped precipitously. President George W. Bush has flatly declared that there will be no draft. However, the Selective Service, the U.S. agency that maintains draft preparations in case of a national emergency, has recently updated a plan to allow the rapid registration of 3.4 million health care workers 18 to 44 years of age.5 The Department of Defense has indicated that it will rely on improved financial incentives to attract more medical professionals. Whether this strategy can succeed remains unknown. The pay has never been competitive. One now faces a near-certain likelihood of leaving one's family for duty overseas. And without question, the work is dangerous.
- ATLBB
http://www.slate.com/id/2111432/
This is the guy I was talking about the other day. He has a penchant for lending his authority as a surgeon to talk about topical issues. He is good with rhetoric - tone aimed at the layman, even when he is writing for NEJM, and always the personal touch - an individual who died, someone he knew.
These articles are about how Iraq is as dangerous as Vietnam was if you account for advances in medical technology.
The nation's military surgical teams are under tremendous pressure, but they have performed remarkably in this war. They have transformed the strategy for the treatment of war casualties. They have saved the lives of an unprecedented 90 percent of the soldiers wounded in battle. And they have done so under extraordinarily difficult conditions and with heroic personal sacrifices.
Funny how doctors work to reduce the lethal wounds rate from 25% to 10% in 30 years - so that 15% of wounded soldiers live when 3 decades ago they would have died - and this works to conserve political capital and manpower so we can fight longer. I suppose doctors face this dilemma often - patient by patient, they fight the forces that push us in perils way - diet, poverty, misinformation, war, without having any impact on the root causes.
I always look for the policy behind Dr. Gawande's work. I think it is here:
Compounding the difficulties, none of these realities have made it appealing to sign up as a military surgeon. Interest in joining the reserves has dropped precipitously. President George W. Bush has flatly declared that there will be no draft. However, the Selective Service, the U.S. agency that maintains draft preparations in case of a national emergency, has recently updated a plan to allow the rapid registration of 3.4 million health care workers 18 to 44 years of age.5 The Department of Defense has indicated that it will rely on improved financial incentives to attract more medical professionals. Whether this strategy can succeed remains unknown. The pay has never been competitive. One now faces a near-certain likelihood of leaving one's family for duty overseas. And without question, the work is dangerous.
- ATLBB
