Ron and Justin, Your
solution of seperating
goverrnment and
medicine sooths the
libertarian soul. In
discussing this issue,
non libertarians of all
stripes correctly insist
that it is inhumane and
politically unacceptable
to just walk away from a
dying person.
Philip Burton, the late former
congressman from my
district was the sponsor
of legislation FORCING
every hospital to treat
the indigent. Prior to that
legislation, to my
knowledge, most doctors
felt a professional
obligation to provide
appropriate discounts
and payment terms to
indigent patients.
Religious organizations
sponsored many
hospitals, along with
considerable private
donations. Most
municipalities also had
hospitals. Private
certifying organizations
of many specialities
encouraged ethical
practices for indigent
patients.
My father was taken to
the nearest Hospital,
Baltimore City Hospital
in 1963 when he had a
terrible auto accident..
He was in an open ward
for six months with 50
other beds. The care was
good enough to bring
him from the brink of death.
Today, many
Pharmaceutical
companies have
assistance programs. For
decades, doctors have treated
indigent patients with
free pharmaceutical
samples.
More frequently
than most suspect, the
poor are better off not
getting the latest and
hottest care. The rich
and well connected end
up unwittingly being the
guinea pigs for new
drugs and procedures. The poor and
indigent , not being able
to afford the latest and
newest, got by on the
old line tried and true
drugs. In the case of
AIDS, many of my
wealthiest and most
connected friends died
because they got every
new drug as soon as it
came out and developed
resisstence to each one
before it was figured out
that one needs to take
three effective drugs at
the same time to hold the
AIDS virus at bay.
There are many times in
life where good things
turn out to be bad and
vica versa. Did Philip
Burton improve the lot
of the indigent with his
forceful approach?
There is simply no way
to know for sure. The
answer just may be No.
In my field of Public
Health, many of the
greatest advances were
made by private
institutions. Fleming was
largely privately funded
and found pencillin. The Rockfeller
Foundation
took Fleming's discovery
off the shelf and
convinced the
pharmaceutical
companies to produce it. I
recall from my
childhood, appeals to
contribute to polio
research.
In the 1950s there were
only a handful of public
health schools, most of
them private. In recent
decades, Federal NIH
funding has mushroomed
the ranks of Public
Health Schools., With
increased Federal
presence, research on
the most critical world
helath problems, such as
Malaria, and water
borne disease
languished. Congress
can't brag about
advances in Malaria
research in Palo Alto or
Peoria. It took a 250
million dollar grant from
the Gates Foundation to
restart serious Malaria
research at my alma
mater, Johns Hopkins.
One can only hope that
my once proud and
effective Environmental
Engineering Department,
or as an old professor of
Biostatisticas still calls it
"Sewers and Drains"
gets restarted. Nothing is
more important for
public health than clean
water and
sanitation.Nothing.
Wherever governments
tax, regulate, and
oppress people into
abject poverty, which is
the general lot of
Humanity, the inability
to afford clean water and
basic sanitation results
in unspeakable misery.
Time and again, the
lifting of the burden of
governmant has brought
the key to health and
longevity, clean water.
The process is difficult
and imperfect, with
backsliding, but first Hong Kong and
Japan, then Taiwan, South
Korea, Chile, and
Singapore have shown
the way for China and
now India to lift much of the burden
of regulation, taxation and other
economic oppresions off the people.
The global daily death toll of water
borne disease is
staggering. One can only
hope that the gradual
assent from slavery to
freedom will accelarate
in China and India and
spread throughout the
world. With greater economic
freedom will come the
ability to afford clean
water. With clean water
will come much better
health.
Improving health is perhaps one
of the greaestt promises of
the Libertarian
philosophy.
Philip Berg
Libertarian Nominee for Congress
California's Eighth Congressional
District
Sam Framcisco