The Human Ant Farm

It's books like this, How the New Quality Movement is Transforming Medicine, that give me pause to enter the field of medicine.

New York Times contributor, Abigail Zuger, MD, reports on the book by Massachusetts health insurance advisor Charles Kenney. Right now, Zuger points out, health care is being examined with greater scrutiny than ever before. It's getting to the point where some - typically not doctors or nurses - advocate for a flat health care structure in which even patients and their families can call the shots on treatment.

The synopsis of Zuger's review of Kenney's book is that the problems of health care are great - but it's probably wishful thinking to transform the system by putting even more pressure on health care workers to perform impossible tasks to reach perfection. Although Kenney accuses physicians of treating humans like cars, Zuger argues that no one in the health care field treats anyone like a car. Things do happen in medicine that are not always pleasant, organized or easy to accept. Still, physicians and nurses are really doing all they can.

As a first-hand observer in a children's emergency room, I can attest to this fact. Doctors and nurses are still in health care to help and do the best they can. Our health care administration, the rules set by insurance companies and the lack of government support are really what's killing the system.