I was recently watching a TV documentary about obesity and the food industry and one of the interviews that the programme contained shook me and got me thinking deep thoughts.
The interview itself was with an American doctor who carried out gastric band operations on patients. The thought of the operation itself was not the trigger for my thoughts but rather I was startled by two of the statements the doctor made. The first that he would choose a private patient rather than a medicaid patient because the formers' operation would cost the patient $7500 whereas an operation on the latter would only cost $900 and therefore the surgeon would make more money with the private patient. What struck me here was that at no time did the doctor the medical side of the operation and I was left thinking: What if the medicaid patient needed it medically more urgently than the private patient?
The second statement was the one that left me stunned, although at my age it probably shouldn't have. The doctor admitted that he would quite happily give a gastric band to any patient who could pay privately regardless of whether they needed it medically or not. The implication of this for me was profound. As long as there is money in it he was happy to provide the service. This concept sent me deep into a line of thought which I hope to discuss in the following posts.
OK before I go on I would like to state that I am not knocking the doctor or his motivation nor am I pointing any fingers of blame at the Americans because I feel that his comments arose from the societal structure he (and we) find ourselves. Also these thoughts are mine and arise from how I see the world - other may see it and view it differently. I understand this but the only tool I have to experience the world is my own conscience and that conscience is at the moment troubled. With that in mind I will outline what my problem is and what I want to discuss in future.
I have looked at our society and am deeply troubled as it appears extremely flawed. At present there seems to be a focus on the acquisition of money. This is having terrible knock-on effects lower down the economic food chain. As the example I cited above indicates this search for wealth tramples ethics and morals underfoot.
What I do not want to do though is debate society as it is, at least not for the present. What I would like to try and find out is how did we get here. Is there somewhere at the base a biological or evolutionary reason for our current behaviour as a species? This then is my intended journey. Whether we find any truths or reach our destination is unknown but it will be good to at least start the journey.
So to begin in the next post I will try and look at what drives our need for more and more wealth
The interview itself was with an American doctor who carried out gastric band operations on patients. The thought of the operation itself was not the trigger for my thoughts but rather I was startled by two of the statements the doctor made. The first that he would choose a private patient rather than a medicaid patient because the formers' operation would cost the patient $7500 whereas an operation on the latter would only cost $900 and therefore the surgeon would make more money with the private patient. What struck me here was that at no time did the doctor the medical side of the operation and I was left thinking: What if the medicaid patient needed it medically more urgently than the private patient?
The second statement was the one that left me stunned, although at my age it probably shouldn't have. The doctor admitted that he would quite happily give a gastric band to any patient who could pay privately regardless of whether they needed it medically or not. The implication of this for me was profound. As long as there is money in it he was happy to provide the service. This concept sent me deep into a line of thought which I hope to discuss in the following posts.
OK before I go on I would like to state that I am not knocking the doctor or his motivation nor am I pointing any fingers of blame at the Americans because I feel that his comments arose from the societal structure he (and we) find ourselves. Also these thoughts are mine and arise from how I see the world - other may see it and view it differently. I understand this but the only tool I have to experience the world is my own conscience and that conscience is at the moment troubled. With that in mind I will outline what my problem is and what I want to discuss in future.
I have looked at our society and am deeply troubled as it appears extremely flawed. At present there seems to be a focus on the acquisition of money. This is having terrible knock-on effects lower down the economic food chain. As the example I cited above indicates this search for wealth tramples ethics and morals underfoot.
What I do not want to do though is debate society as it is, at least not for the present. What I would like to try and find out is how did we get here. Is there somewhere at the base a biological or evolutionary reason for our current behaviour as a species? This then is my intended journey. Whether we find any truths or reach our destination is unknown but it will be good to at least start the journey.
So to begin in the next post I will try and look at what drives our need for more and more wealth
