Friday, January 06, 2006
Ode To A Dead Friend
As a child, pretty much all the way into undergrad school, I wanted to be a doctor. Then I started hanging out with pre-med types. While my grades and course work were comparable, something seemed very, very amiss to me, so I concentrated on my chemistry and dropped it.
My suspicions were confirmed when my friends went to med school. More hazing than education - medical school, and I audited some classes with me friends, seems designed to promote a stranglehold on the health care system. It is just way too manipulative for my taste.
Ken Stanley, my near lifelong best friend that passed away this past year was a cardiologist, a very good one. Also the one of the founding physicians of the Indiana Heart Hospital. We had endless debates on the ills of the health care system.
The Wall Street Journal carried a first person piece about the demise of a heart hospital in Milwaukee yesterday. It's very interesting reading. There is a lot I could comment on, but I don't wish to betray Ken's confidences since he still has many partners remaining active in the hospital he helped start.
Suffice it to say that health care system in this country is seriously broken from a business perspective (despite our increasing state of health) and the solutions are making matters worse, not better.
My suspicions were confirmed when my friends went to med school. More hazing than education - medical school, and I audited some classes with me friends, seems designed to promote a stranglehold on the health care system. It is just way too manipulative for my taste.
Ken Stanley, my near lifelong best friend that passed away this past year was a cardiologist, a very good one. Also the one of the founding physicians of the Indiana Heart Hospital. We had endless debates on the ills of the health care system.
The Wall Street Journal carried a first person piece about the demise of a heart hospital in Milwaukee yesterday. It's very interesting reading. There is a lot I could comment on, but I don't wish to betray Ken's confidences since he still has many partners remaining active in the hospital he helped start.
Suffice it to say that health care system in this country is seriously broken from a business perspective (despite our increasing state of health) and the solutions are making matters worse, not better.
