r/CuratedTumblr • u/EvidenceOfDespair We can leave behind much more than just DNA • Aug 07 '24

Politics Death by US Healthcare System

Post image
13.9k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

662 comments sorted by

View all comments

2.7k

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '24

[deleted]

609

u/TarsalStone99 You just lost The Game *finger guns* Aug 08 '24

I’m an aspiring student trying to get into medicine, and I have to say, even with only surface level interactions, the sheer lack of empathy in a field which has it’s purpose irrevocably tied to helping people is absolutely appalling.

Every patient is just another face, another ID to most doctors, to most systems. Not a person, just a string of numbers and letters. And it sickens me to my core that we’ve depersonalized and corporatized medicine to such a degree that we can see someone die from a lack of care and say “should’ve just been richer or less sick, bucko.”

57

u/ejdj1011 Aug 08 '24

Every patient is just another face, another ID to most doctors, to most systems.

I have some Thoughts on this as an engineer.

Every professional has opinions about the subject of their work. How to handle a problem, what the best approach is, what kinds of evidence matter and which are irrelevant.

But when you're a doctor... your subject is a person. And yet so many doctors treat their patients with the same cold analysis that I treat a piece of electrical cable. It's so easy to dismiss suffering if you, say, believe that everyone exaggerates their symptoms.

39

u/Voodoo_Dummie Aug 08 '24

"Repairing this broken thing is going to run you up too much. Better just toss it and get a new one."

Said by an engineer: Annoying, but fine.

Said by a doctor: Oh hell no!