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I submitted this piece to the city paper just now but I'm unsure if they will publish it, so I decided to post it here because it will make me feel better that at maybe 1 person may read it.
I hope I don't offend anyone, but I was really upset about this topic.
Here goes:
The Crisis in America
by: YV
I am a social work student at the University of Houston
I recently heard a story of a woman whose baby was sick with a fever in the middle of the night. Her daughter was rushed to the hospital only to be turned away for services because the hospital that the ambulance took her to was not covered by her HMO. She was escorted out of the building and told to take her baby to a different hospital even while she begged the doctors to treat her. She climbed in her car, drove to the other hospital and her daughter was seen, except that by the time she got to the approved hospital her baby had gone into cardiac arrest, she died. What is the moral implication here? It seems to me that we have turned from a system of care, to a system of profit. We always hear that America is the best country in the world, “The Land of Opportunity” yet I fear that it has become a country that does not take care of its people.
While in the past there has been a half hearted push for universal healthcare today we have individual insurance companies competing for profit. Putting the bottom line, profit earnings, before the care of the sick.
But what is worse is that seems to that not enough people are bothered by this. When I heard this woman’s story I was so conflicted. I had no idea which emotion to go with first; I felt enraged, sorrow and hopelessness all at the same time. I seriously considered sending a letter to my president asking him if he didn’t see the problems that were occurring around him, or if he just didn’t care.
Our country is a wonderful place to live, we have democracy and freedom. We have to opportunities to educate ourselves and to strive for a better future for ourselves and our children. We are one of the richest countries in the world, and in so being we should do more for those who can not do for themselves. In the best country in the world, which I believe America to be, there should be no poverty, there should be not one child going untreated with an ailment, there should be cooperation, the homeless should be cared for, etc.
Yet no one seems to notice how far we have come from this ideal. Those in power are taking money hand over fist and supporting legislation not in the interest of the people but in the interest of business.
Ultimately I am disgusted with the situation but worst of all I feel hopeless; I feel that change is almost impossible. True change would require a rising up of people as it has in the past. It would involve people getting together and speaking out about issues, writing letters, marching, protesting. I’m fearful that we don’t have what it takes to bring about that kind of change.
Maybe we all would prefer not to think about it, to go back to our regularly scheduled programs and numb ourselves to the misfortunes of others. One day though, it may not be the misfortune of others, one day it may be your misfortune, or your daughter’s misfortune, or you mother’s. Who will stand with you, who will support you when you can not support yourself? We have the obligation to begin this process, today, now. To help those around us, we are a people, we are the same. The mother who lost her daughter could have been me, it could have been you.
Who will hold us up when we are falling and who will you hold up that has fallen?
I hope I don't offend anyone, but I was really upset about this topic.
Here goes:
The Crisis in America
by: YV
I am a social work student at the University of Houston
I recently heard a story of a woman whose baby was sick with a fever in the middle of the night. Her daughter was rushed to the hospital only to be turned away for services because the hospital that the ambulance took her to was not covered by her HMO. She was escorted out of the building and told to take her baby to a different hospital even while she begged the doctors to treat her. She climbed in her car, drove to the other hospital and her daughter was seen, except that by the time she got to the approved hospital her baby had gone into cardiac arrest, she died. What is the moral implication here? It seems to me that we have turned from a system of care, to a system of profit. We always hear that America is the best country in the world, “The Land of Opportunity” yet I fear that it has become a country that does not take care of its people.
While in the past there has been a half hearted push for universal healthcare today we have individual insurance companies competing for profit. Putting the bottom line, profit earnings, before the care of the sick.
But what is worse is that seems to that not enough people are bothered by this. When I heard this woman’s story I was so conflicted. I had no idea which emotion to go with first; I felt enraged, sorrow and hopelessness all at the same time. I seriously considered sending a letter to my president asking him if he didn’t see the problems that were occurring around him, or if he just didn’t care.
Our country is a wonderful place to live, we have democracy and freedom. We have to opportunities to educate ourselves and to strive for a better future for ourselves and our children. We are one of the richest countries in the world, and in so being we should do more for those who can not do for themselves. In the best country in the world, which I believe America to be, there should be no poverty, there should be not one child going untreated with an ailment, there should be cooperation, the homeless should be cared for, etc.
Yet no one seems to notice how far we have come from this ideal. Those in power are taking money hand over fist and supporting legislation not in the interest of the people but in the interest of business.
Ultimately I am disgusted with the situation but worst of all I feel hopeless; I feel that change is almost impossible. True change would require a rising up of people as it has in the past. It would involve people getting together and speaking out about issues, writing letters, marching, protesting. I’m fearful that we don’t have what it takes to bring about that kind of change.
Maybe we all would prefer not to think about it, to go back to our regularly scheduled programs and numb ourselves to the misfortunes of others. One day though, it may not be the misfortune of others, one day it may be your misfortune, or your daughter’s misfortune, or you mother’s. Who will stand with you, who will support you when you can not support yourself? We have the obligation to begin this process, today, now. To help those around us, we are a people, we are the same. The mother who lost her daughter could have been me, it could have been you.
Who will hold us up when we are falling and who will you hold up that has fallen?
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