Fear equals Profit

One of my jobs is at a very large, very prestigious cancer hospital. The place is so big that they refer to it as a medical campus. The buildings are new and architecturally beautiful. New buildings are going up. Some days when I walk in I am greeted by piano music being played on a grand piano. The gift shop sells expensive, pretty gifts. The hospital cafeteria is so cheap that they charge extra for a Styrofoam plate.

On day on the way into work, I was struck by the horror of it all. The place was built by frightened sick people. Doctors, administrators, and pharmaceutical corporations were all making a mint. People who were scared out of their wits were forking over big money to have their lives saved. It started with... First do no harm. Now, the medical establishment is a huge bulky corporation whose goal is to make shareholders money. Saving lives is secondary. Building pretty buildings and cushy offices is far more important.

But when you are sick with cancer, you are scared. You want someone with a degree on the wall and a white lab coat to come and save you. You will listen to whatever he says. You will take the pills of whatever pharmaceutical company is paying him the biggest kickback. Shareholders will make money selling you a five cent pill for twenty dollars. You will let them inject poison in your body... all for a hope and a prayer that you may live another year. Doctors pay for expensive malpractice insurance policies. Insurance companies get fat.

Somehow... in all of this... the patient is lost. The patient becomes the problem that must be fixed for a profit. People are not whole beings. They become a collection of parts.... parts that can be shuffled around or removed... parts... thats all just parts. People are not treated holistically. Healing is not the goal here... profit is.

I was struck by all this when I was walking into work. The building that I work in is built on the pain and suffering of others.