Our broken healthcare system
I recently listened to a 2011 This American Life episode about corruption at a hospital in a small town in West Texas. It was the story of several male leaders in the town going to great lengths to take down a couple of nurses who had reported cases of malpractice to the Texas Medical Board. It was a terrible ordeal for those poor nurses, and based on their numerous reports of a doctor's malpractice, it's very scary to think about what it would be like to be a patient of that hospital. But I, along with many of you, can comfort myself knowing that I am not likely to move to Kermit, Texas.
Of course, two days later I read this article in the Washington Post that completely debunked that lovely, naive theory that this type of corruption is limited to that small town in Western Texas. A team of six scientists/doctors worked in the Office of Device Evaluation at the FDA and were responsible for reviewing medical devices for cancer screening. The FDA approved several radiological devices that had not yet proven effectiveness and that posed risks to patients. Analogous to those three nurses in Kermit, Texas, this six-person team tried to raise their concerns in-house and when that did not succeed they took their case to the higher powers that be - more specifically in this case, to Congress, the White House, and the Health and Human Services Inspector General. Again, similar to the story in Kermit, Texas, the FDA monitored the personal emails of those scientists/doctors and harassed and fired them.
The state of corruption in the healthcare industry (particularly relating to the FDA) is not looking good, but this is also not a recent development. So why, when everyone realizes what has to be done, does it take so much time/effort to put into place more effective approval processes that are based on scientific rigor? Why isn't there a better balance between healthcare as an industry and healthcare as a service? This reminds me a little of the huge issues we have with the education system as well. Waiting for Superman provided a wonderful (and depressing) view of the challenges of overhauling our current systems, even when folks on top (like Michelle Rhee) identify and attempt to implement good plans. I keep finding out about amazing examples in education especially (here, here, and here just to name a few) of individuals and small groups on the bottom breaking out from bureaucratic/corruptive organizations and starting innovative systems of their own. It's inspiring, and I wonder whether folks innovating in both healthcare and education can push solutions from the bottom-up so that it eventually becomes mainstream.
