Would You Ask Al Capone to Reform the Criminal System?
22 Dec 2002
How naive can you be? Premier Romanow has been touring the country for months trying to discover what’s wrong with the Canadian health care system. His simplistic solution? 15 million dollars. He believes that tossing more bags of money into the failing health care system will save it. His foresight is appalling. Even a 14 year old girl could figure that out.
During the flurry of interviews and newspaper reports following release of the Romanow report I kept waiting for someone to ask the obvious question. But neither CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge, newspaper journalists nor physicians posed the ultimate query. It took a 14 year old girl to state, “Canadians must exercise more, stop smoking, eat well and don’t take illegal drugs”.
This 14 year old girl, interviewd on TV, was on the right track, preventive medicine. But neither she nor Romanow has any conception of the massive tidal wave of chronic disease and demand for care that is about to drown healthcare. Suggesting that a socialist like Romanow might find an imaginative solution is like asking Al Capone to reform the criminal system.
Today an epidemic of obesity and diabetes grows worse with each passing day. Every 45 seconds a new diabetic is diagnosed in North America. Bags of dollars won’t stop this pandemic which has more repercussions than the plague. The plague, unlike diabetes, killed people fast.
The duo of obesity and diabetes results in lengthy, costly treatments such as renal dialysis, cataract surgery, hip replacements and coronary bypass operations, to name a few. I’ve been warning about this chronic epidemic for 25years. And it can only be cured by drastic lifestyle changes starting early in life.
Why didn’t Romanow’s report recognize that obese children become obese adults which will cost billions down the road. Yet not one word to recommend compulsory daily physical education as a part of every school’s curriculum. And no word about teaching children the value of sound nutrition.
What about adults? I recently visited a 97 year-old relative who would have laughed at Romanow’s proposal. She’s a hardy New Englander who lives alone and rarely sees a doctor. At her mild complaint that she has occasional arthritic pain I suggested a nip of Bailey’s Irish Cream Liquor now and then might help. She smiled and reached behind her easy chair. Out came the very bottle that was her only medication.
A recent letter from her , however, complained that she had been prescribed oxygen to help her breathing. In her still beautiful hand writing she added “I hate it. I feel like a dog tied to a leash and take the darn thing off when no one is looking!” If we had more people like her that didn’t run to doctors for every ache and pain we’d have more money for those with serious afflictions.
The future without prevention, the one word Romanow forgot, looks catastrophic. I don’t see Canadians’ voracious appetite for medical care slackening. Costly procedures, expensive medication and an aging population riddled with self-imposed chronic disease will suck up more and more dollars at an increasing rate. The final tidal wave will make today’s shortages seem like a Sunday school picnic.
What was particularly upsetting was the absence of imagination in Romanow’s report. Why no mention that some private facilities that don’t charge extra have proven to be more patient efficient? The Shouldice Clinic, renowned for speedy hernia repair, is a prime example.
I agree that we do not have to dismantle what we have to maintain a viable health system. But for Romanow to dictate that not one ounce of free enterprise will be allowed in the door may mean that what we currently have goes out the door.
Romanow’s report goes nowhere. And as Yogi Bera, catcher-philosopher for the New York Yankees once remarked, “If you don’t know where you’re going you’re bound to end up someplace else”.
15 million dollars could be better spent. It could purchase needed medical equipment, train more doctors and nurses and promote preventive lifestyle. Maybe even some Baileys Irish Cream for those who don’t run to the doctor for every ache and pain. My great friend in New England would say “Amen” to that prescription!
