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So here's a clip from Michael Moore's upcoming film Sicko which kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Now, I'll admit that I'm probably too quick to judge since I haven't seen the whole movie, but I thought I'd share my thoughts to chew on until the movie's wide release later on this month.
In this snippet, a man accidentally cuts the tips of two fingers off with a table saw. By the way Moore tells the story, we're led to believe that the hospital gave the man a choice as to which finger he wanted reattached based on his ability to pay, and seems to distort the probable case that the man willingly chose not to have his middle finger reattached because he didn't want to pay for it. I mean, unless I'm mistaken, a hospital denying a needed medical service for any reason other than patient refusal, is illegal. Now this still points out a serious problem with the system. The guy was uninsured and out-of-pocket expenses for those without medical coverage are exorbitant. But I hope the movie goes more into the issue of why this guy was uninsured in the first place, rather than just getting an audience riled up on the false belief that a heartless medical care facility wouldn't reattach both fingers because a patient couldn't ante up the cash.
As I've said before, I think it's admirable that Michael Moore is raising the issues and throwing it into the public forum, but I think he's doing his audience a disservice by not presenting all the facts from both sides. I thought it was a bit laughable in his interview with Good Morning America (part 1, part 2) where he states that the reason he doesn't present the problems of a single-payer health care system is because the media already does a good job pointing out the flaws of "model" systems like the United Kingdom and Canada. I see the flaws of the American system in the news daily, so it's not like the media isn't covering that, as well. In fact, it's almost a sad commentary about our country that we need an extreme film like Michael Moore's to wake up and get enthusiastic about trying to solve such a national social issue. I anticipate hordes of people coming out of Sicko feeling like they just got educated on the state of our health care system, ignoring the fact that it's covered in every newspaper and television news program almost on a daily basis.
Anywho, maybe I should just wait for the movie to come out before I make anymore rash judgements.
4 comments:
The top story on every news agency Wednesday was an immigrant woman who died in a California ER waiting room from a perforated bowel, while an onlooker and her boyfriend both were on the phone with 911 trying to get an ambulance to take her to another hospital because the one she was in would not see to her despite vomiting blood.
Yeah an ER would never make someone decide which finger they could sew back on to keep costs down.
Why did he have to choose a finger? If it wasn't cost (it's not like he will probably pay the $12K, either), then what was it, time? Did they only have a window of opportunity enough to reattach one finger?
This is my big criticism of Moore. He's so one sided, and blatantly so, that it makes it so easy to dismiss his valid points. You get your Fox News jackasses easily tearing him apart and then claiming that everything he proposes is bunk. It hurts the cause.
Well, I'm going to say you're comparing apples and oranges, Wander.
From what I've read about that tragedy in LA, that was a combination of poor triage and too many patients for one ER to handle. The problems of our ER systems in this country are complex, but probably can boil down to issues of money and access to health care, but the issues of this woman dying in the ER waiting room aren't directly because the people in that ER on that day didn't want to see her because of inability to pay. And the 911 operators who refused to get her an ambulance? That's not a money issue, that's a safety issue. It's the same reason an ambulance in an emergent situation is obligated to take you to the nearest ER rather than the ER of your choice. In a perfect world, every ER is supposed to be capable of stabilizing a patient. So what's a 911 operator supposed to do when he's told that you're already in an ER? If I'm not mistaken, one of the operators called thought it was some kind of bad prank and actually got upset with the caller. Unfortunately, some hospitals are better than others, and I don't think even the health care system in France, arguably one of the best systems in the world, is immune to that.
Anywho, I also venture to guess that because that hospital (named after MLK which unfortunately probably gives you some idea of where it's located and the income level of most of its patients) is in the inner city, I'd venture to guess that the majority of their staff isn't all that enthusiastic about working there, meaning there's a lot of socioeconomic biases and preconceived notions that may have played a big role in the death of that woman, too.
And I agree with Firecracker George. I actually think Moore has valid points he raises in his movies. But, you know, Bill O'Reilly raises a good point or two once in awhile, too, and we all know how half of the country responds to his one-sided rants. OK, that was a bit extreme. I'm not an O'Reilly Factor supporter, so don't get the wrong idea. I should stop now.
Bill O'Reilly is a self-delusional douche bag. I have to admit though, I do agree with him on some points. I believe pedophilia is bad, for example.
See? I don't worry about being extreme. It's just us, Pimp.
Oh and to amend my post above, it really looks like Moore omits information that will not support his assertions/innuendos. Case is point, he spins it like the man who lost his fingers had to decide based on cost. When I first heard that I thought it fishy because a man who can't afford a private health care policy can't afford a $12k or $60k surgery. I think that there is another reason why he had to choose.
It's like Moore has to pander to the lowest common denominator, because he thinks that we can't handle more complex ideas. He's got to get the people rallied behind something simple. Make 'em think, I say.
I liked his stunt of bringing 911 rescue workers to Gitmo for health care. That seems pretty black and white to me. Sure we have a duty to treat prisoners of war humanely, but hope about we just say, 'any 911 rescue worker gets health care paid for by the federal government for the life.' We could easily afford it. I know that it isn't set up that way; make a friggin' caveat.
I also think that insurance companies are greedy gits, and that the ever-lucrative disease market takes advantage of people when they are down. But making these MTV-style points and ignoring the true complexity of the issue makes it easy for the greedy gits to dismiss you as a crazy liberal hippie.
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