Dear Editor:
There is considerable concern in our society about the high cost
of medicine, especially the cost of hospitalization.
Dear Editor:
There is considerable concern in our society about the high cost of medicine, especially the cost of hospitalization.
We hear horror stories about a one night’s stay in a hospital and a bill for $3,000 or more – and wonder why?
To help you understand the current situation, let’s briefly review the past.
Way back in maybe the 14th or 15th century there were no hospitals such as we know them. Life and death were uncertain, the average life span was about 40 years. Infant mortality was 15 to 20 percent, diphtheria took its toll on the youth, and tuberculosis was a most common cause of early death.
The Black Plague of an earlier century had taken its toll, whole families and villages wiped out in a brief period of weeks. People were reverent, hell was preached by the clergy, the fear of God dominated the populace! The church was the major influence in the community, thus Christianity was the major force influencing western culture in the middle ages and later centuries.
About this time, within Christian communities, houses or dwellings known as hospices developed. A hospice was a place where people went to die. These were developed and staffed by religious orders.
The hospice served two major functions; one, entering the hospice relieved the family of the sorrow and misery watching their loved one die, and secondly, it gave the sisters of the order the opportunity to save those souls of the departing personalities – promising them life eternal. Other than that promise of eternal life little was available to the dying individual; maybe water to wet parched lips, sympathy, and compassion – then burial.
With the development of the Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Method, a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry, and a crude, developing medical profession, things began to change for the better.
The hospice gradually became the hospital. It was the workshop of the doctor. Science now offered more than water to wet the lips. The organizing and developing force was the church. During the 19th century and until World War II, most hospitals were church affiliated. There was the Methodist hospital, the Presbyterian hospital, St. Mary’s (Catholic) and Mt. Sinai (Jewish), to mention a few. These all functioned well, costs were reasonable and care affordable. The hospital was no longer a place where you went to die. True, some died in the hospital, but for the most part it was an institution of mercy, a site for relief of suffering, and most often a restorer of health.
The motivating force of the hospital administration (often a sister or a priest), the nursing staff and the doctors, was service to mankind.
The sisters did not have union hours, their days were long and hard, and their financial remuneration meager. Most doctors were likewise dedicated to the welfare of their fellow men – though handicapped by a limited field of medical knowledge. Actually it has been said to quote: “It was not until the early 1930s that the chance encounter of patient and doctor that the patient benefited.”
Man in western culture began to prosper, the years of life expectancy grew, some diseases came under control, and the hospital played a greater and greater role in the health field. With the advent of World War II the relationship of doctor, hospital, and patient began to change. Government began to replace the church. This was necessitated by the war effort.
The training of doctors became a government program taking over most medical schools. Much government money poured into research in these hospitals, and other medical fields – funded by government grants or training programs of the armed services.
Great technical advances were made requiring expensive equipment, the quality, and quantity of hi-tech medicine and surgery brought benefits to all – but at great cost. The church and religious organizations were not financially able to support and maintain this great advancement and they were gradually relegated to a minor role.
The era of “service to mankind” within the medical profession and hospitals gave way to “for profit” and medicine became “big business,” big corporate business. The kindly caring doctor became an employee of an HMO. An individual’s personal responsibility for his health and financial obligation were shifted to the insurance company. With the third party paying the bills the cost rose – it is fundamental. And that ladies and gentlemen, is why it costs $3,000 for a night’s stay in a modern, highly technical, well-equipped hospital. Today’s medical facility is a far cry from its progeny of the 14th century – the hospice. And be thankful it is – true it costs more- but it’s worth it! If a patient in the hospital, you’ll get more than water to wet your lips.
J. G. McCormack, Gilroy
Submitted Tuesday, Nov. 11
