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From:	ellie (199.90.157.4)
Subject:	one good reason
Date:	October 29, 2009 at 10:41 am PST

In Reply to: A totally, completely un-political post about health care posted by Claire on October 22, 2009 at 4:20 am:

medical school. I am serious - back in the day, doctors were not always required to go to medical school. Many of them "read medicine" (or "read law") under the guidance of a practicing doc or lawyer, then new docs spent some time "training" in a hospital, then hung out their shingles. No six-figure school debt. No fancy radiology or hi-tech imaging or blood workups. no 911. No NICU or trauma center or rehab therapy or anti-stroke drugs or angioplasty. No open-heart surgery. Anyone else old enough to remember when they thought Michael DeBakey was barking mad for opening up someone's chest?

Pretty high rates of morbidity and mortality from things like polio and diptheria and scarlet fever and typhus, and the big C was a certain death sentence, and preemie babies did not live, but hey well, there are tradeoffs, ya know?

I hear what you're saying. But in the sepia-tinged longing for the simpler days of Mayberry, don't lose sight of how high our expectations have gotten, because more is possible, at least to the lucky few.

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