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Quotes of the Month
Archives
FALL 2003
I hope and trust everybody had a pleasant and relatively comfortable summer. North Texas was not as hot as usual in July and August and except for the lack of rain, it was quite tolerable. I must say I may have missed some hot days in May since I was in Ireland for three weeks. My wife and I and another couple, who are long time good friends, toured the circumference of the island by car. Ireland is a beautiful country and just as green as an emerald, as it is always described. It rained every day but the last three, when we were in Dublin. The rain consisted of intermittent showers that came down as the clouds would come and go. Very seldom were there steady downpours so with our "brellys" we could sightsee without hindrance. I was surprised by the yellow flowering gorse which grows in hedgerows and along ancient stone fences that divide the sheep littered green fields into geometrical patterns. The combination of green and yellow was striking. Ireland's history is replete with violence, famine, and tragedy. It required hundreds of years for the Irish to overthrow the bonds of English oppression and become a free nation. Northern Ireland is still part of the British Empire that is significantly shrunk from the previous Victorian glory years. In the 1990s the economy of the Irish Republic started booming as a result of the electronic and pharmaceutical industries. From the early 1800s to the middle of the 20th century Ireland lost millions of its young people as a result of emigration and death as a result of famine and squalid living conditions. With the soaring economy as a stimulant many of the Irish, especially the younger generation, have moved back and further energized the country. We found the Irish to be extremely friendly and especially fond of Americans except for our President. They were surprisingly up to date on foreign affairs and worldwide current events. Over 50% had visited the United States because of relatives living there. The typical Irish citizen went out of their way to be friendly, give directions, and recommend sites to visit in their beautiful country that they were obviously proud of. According to taxi drivers, the Irish Health System is two tiered. There is the National System that is available to everyone and then there is a private system for those who can afford it. Patients are referred to hospitals by family practitioners and then treated by consultants whom we call specialists. According to the taxi drivers who I considered to be spokesmen for the typical Irishman, the consultants control the tempo of the system. If you are a patient in the public system then the wait for elective surgery, for example, can be months or even a year. In the private side patients are accommodated as they are in our system that for the most part is private with insurance or government subsidy. Where the American System fails, in comparison, is the number of un-insured or under insured American citizens who have no access to quality health care unless they throw themselves into hospital emergency rooms. By law they cannot be turned away and the hospital assumes the uncompensated financial burden. With the number increasing, hospitals will not be able to continue this service indefinitely-something will have to give. This together with the malpractice problem and a runaway pharmaceutical industry that egregiously escalates drug prices each year and obscenely advertises are some of the main problems in the American Health Care System. I think this will be addressed in the upcoming elections and hopefully solved. Please carefully heed each candidate's ideas for it is complicated and a solution will be both expensive and difficult.
I have jumped all around in my description of our Irish trip and hardly covered all the attributes of both the country and its people. It would take a book to do so. I just wanted to give the reader a taste and the flavor of the country so you would consider it as a trip destination. I guarantee an enjoyable experience.
For all you Texas readers, thank you for passing proposition #12, which amended the Texas Constitution, thus legally allowing the legislative cap on non-economic damages in malpractice cases. This is not, of course, the complete solution but it should help considerably and hopefully reduce the high insurance premiums that have driven many doctors into retirement or out of the state.
I realize this Webletter has been somewhat haphazard and certainly has deviated from the subject of preventive medicine but I thought you might be interested in our trip to Ireland. I have decided to make the Webletters on preventive medicine quarterly in order to try electronic publishing of various projects that I have been working on. I have some reworked historical essays and I have developed an interest in poetry. One essay is on Huey P. Long's assassination and the other is on Grover Cleveland's secret operation. The poetry is on mixed subjects. My plan is to periodically publish these on the web site so they can be downloaded by interested readers.
QUOTES OF THE FALL SEASON
I met with Napper Tandy and heTake care until next time,
Took me by the hand,
And he said,'How's poor ould
Ireland,and how does she stand?'
She's the most distressful country
That iver yet was seen,
For they're hangin' men an' women
There for the wearin' of the green.
- Anonymous, The Wearin' o' the Green
Put an Irishman on the spit, and
You can always get another
Irishman to baste him.
- Proverb
Not in vain is Ireland pouring itself
All over the earth….The Irish
With their glowing hearts and
Reverent credulity , are needed in
This cold age of intellect and
Skepticism.
- Lydia M. Child (1802-80) U.S. abolitionist campaigner
Letters from New York, Vol. I, No.33
8 Dec. 1842
Four seasons fill the measure of the
Year;
There are four seasons in the mind
Of men.
- John Keats (1795-1821) British Poet, Four
Richard J. Turner, III, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Editor
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ARCHIVES
Texas Surgical Society Meeting Notes
The Malpractice Crisis
Treatment and Prevention of Malignant Disease
West Nile/Cancers/Discontent with American Healthcare/Prescriptions
History of Preventive Medicine
Smoking Risks/Depression/The Western Diet
Food Consumption/Cancer and Treatment Relationships
Notes from the Spring Texas Surgical Society Meeting
Alternative Medicine
Breast Cancer Symposium
Vitamin B, Passive Smoking, Statin Therapy, Common Cough
Type 2 Diabetus Mellitus
