Physician, Train Thyself

Good medical care comes from good doctors. Good legal representation comes from good lawyers. One might ask the question, "What's the difference between the two?" The answer is simple and could make a newcomer to the land of liberty and freedom shake their head in bewilderment:
If you are accused of a crime, you have the right to be represented by a lawyer, but if you are in sick you do NOT have a right to see a doctor.

We go as far as to require attorneys to perform Pro-bono work (charitable work) but make no such requirements of doctors. Perhaps there is something to that. After all, lawyers don't have to serve an apprenticeship the way doctors do in order to start a successful practice. And let's not forget that, even though law school is an expense, it pales in comparison to the costs of a good medical school education. Look at it this way: A college graduate could actually earn their law degree on line. That graduate could then pass a state's bar exam. They could represent you in a civil matter or prepare your will, or do any number of other tasks that one requires an attorney to do. You might not want them to represent you if you were accused of a capital offense, but for a speeding ticket, you might take a chance.

As far as I know, there are no on-line medical schools, but imagine if there were. Would you trust a prescription written by a "correspondence school doctor"? How about risking a hernia operation by a graduate of EMed-U (I made that one up)? I wouldn't trust my dog to a veterinarian who didn't graduate from a real veterinarian school, so you know I wouldn't trust a doctor from a "fake" medical school.

Here are other questions you need to ask yourself: Are the best people: A) Getting into medical school and; B) Are they even applying to medical school in the first place due to their limited finances? Do we want the best doctors or the best doctors that can afford medical school tuition? What if the next great neurosurgeon is now digging ditches on the Gowanas Expressway in Brooklyn, NY because he wanted to get married to his High school sweetheart and start a family instead of asking her to wait until they are 30 years old or so?

Where am I going with all of this, you may ask? (Go on.... ask.)

I recommend a new system be put in place in the United States that recognizes talent in the science field as early as High School. I recommend a system that would keep tabs on young and talented students with an eye on allowing them a way to go to college, then medical school.

Let's say that student "A" graduates from high school in a poor district of an inner city with high grades. Student "A" attends a public college, mostly on scholarships and financial aid and graduates with honors. Student "A" wishes to become a doctor, but the financial burden would be too great. Student "A" instead heads out into the work force. Even of the student makes it in the business world, we should have wondered what might have been.

Now, let's say we have a plan that allows us to send Student "A" to medical school on the public dollar. No loans. No part time jobs. The student is just that... a full-time medical student who may become the next great research doctor, or heart surgeon, or emergency room doctor, etc. What if, in return for the years of school this doctor has received at public expense, this doctor gives four years of his life, after residency, internship, and whatever else doctors have to go through, at a minimum, but livable wage. Maybe, instead of working in an urban clinic for four years, this doctor might want to repay his debt as an Army surgeon or a doctor on a Naval vessel in 2 or 3 years.

Maybe if we identified the best young people who want to be doctors, we can have the best doctors. Maybe then we can cut the cost of health care by staffing clinics with young, supervised physicians instead of hoping that some good-hearted doctor will help out the poor and indigent when he gets a chance.

Don't just stand up and say, "It'll never work'" or, "the guys in office will never go for it," or, "the medical establishment wouldn't stand for it."

Maybe this is an idea that needs a lot of work, but you have to start somewhere. Why not here and why not now?

Here are questions that should always be asked when confronted with your ideas: If not now, then when? If not me, then who?