Progressive commercialization of American medicine

by Lucas Restrepo, MD

There is only one fundamental problem with American medicine: its progressive commercialization.

Every other problem derives from it centrifugally. Medicine, wroteWilliam Osler, is “a calling, not a business.” Patients are not clients, nor physicians businessmen. People do not spend over a decade studying medicine ―living years in poverty or overburdened with debt― merely hoping to get rich. While it is perfectly legitimate to expect a salary that enables a dignified living and financial stability, any medical student who dreams a life of luxury is misguided. Even doctors or nurses in private practice rarely consider their call a conduit to personal wealth. People become health care providers for many reasons that can’t be encompassed with a neat word; however, altruism can’t be absent from anybody’s list./.../