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Ribbons Shmibbons
We All Have Our Own
In my office, no one who works there - from the front desk to the doctors is allowed to wear disease ribbons. You know those ribbons - pink for Breast Cancer, Red for AIDS , and so on. While there is a real medical/practice reason why I feel medical personnel should not wear ribbons in general I have had enough of these ribbons and the LiveStrong wrist bands and the hundreds of other meaningless, nonsensical pseuodoshows of compassion by most people who would kill any person who cut them off on the checkout line at Filene's Basement or Walmart.
Here it goes.
Doctors, as a matter of basic ethics, should feel compassion for any and all patients who come through the door. For a surgeon to wear a Breast Cancer ribbon on a day you go to that surgeon for a hernia, that surgeon is saying: I really support and care about Breast disease, I don't really give a crap about freakin' hernias but to pay the bills I will do your hernia but don't get emotional on me because hernias don't have a ribbon yet, buddy.
The average person chooses medical causes based on media culture hype and not the real medical problems of the day. According to an article in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) in March 2004 by a group of researchers at the Centers for Disease Control the top three causes of death in the United States in the year 2000 were as follows:
Uh, hum...I don't really see any ribbonesque items in the top three now do I? So when someone comes into the doctor's office with emphysema, malnutrition, liver disease, infections, etc. we don't NEED to wear a ribbon because they will probably die anyway - is that it? Or is it really that the Hollywood and Media (all the Today Show and Good Morning America Hosts and Hostesses combined) feel that these problems that make up the highest proportion of medical deaths are just not sexy enough to get air time.
Concerning cancers specifically - according to the American Cancer Society more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. Breast cancer sees about 43,000 deaths a year. This is, of course, extremely sad. It is also just one of MANY diseases that require our attention, care, and awareness.
For a doctor there is no such thing as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every day, every week, and every month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is also Diabetes Awareness Month, Liver Disease Awareness Month, Arthritis Awareness Month, Drug Addiction Awareness Month, Colon Cancer Awareness Month, and the list goes on.
Let's take the hype out of disease and be aware that we live in complex times of global warming, war, disease and unlimited opportunities for all of us to get involved in helping in all these areas and not just the one a pretty face on TV tells us to help.
Dr. K.
Related Topics: Lung Cancer Q&A, Inactivity, Obesity Killing Americans
In my office, no one who works there - from the front desk to the doctors is allowed to wear disease ribbons. You know those ribbons - pink for Breast Cancer, Red for AIDS , and so on. While there is a real medical/practice reason why I feel medical personnel should not wear ribbons in general I have had enough of these ribbons and the LiveStrong wrist bands and the hundreds of other meaningless, nonsensical pseuodoshows of compassion by most people who would kill any person who cut them off on the checkout line at Filene's Basement or Walmart.
Here it goes.
Doctors, as a matter of basic ethics, should feel compassion for any and all patients who come through the door. For a surgeon to wear a Breast Cancer ribbon on a day you go to that surgeon for a hernia, that surgeon is saying: I really support and care about Breast disease, I don't really give a crap about freakin' hernias but to pay the bills I will do your hernia but don't get emotional on me because hernias don't have a ribbon yet, buddy.
The average person chooses medical causes based on media culture hype and not the real medical problems of the day. According to an article in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) in March 2004 by a group of researchers at the Centers for Disease Control the top three causes of death in the United States in the year 2000 were as follows:
- Tobacco (435,000 deaths; 18.1% of total US deaths a little less than half from lung cancer)
- Poor diet and physical inactivity (365,000 deaths; 15.2%)
- Alcohol consumption (85,000 deaths; 3.5%)
Uh, hum...I don't really see any ribbonesque items in the top three now do I? So when someone comes into the doctor's office with emphysema, malnutrition, liver disease, infections, etc. we don't NEED to wear a ribbon because they will probably die anyway - is that it? Or is it really that the Hollywood and Media (all the Today Show and Good Morning America Hosts and Hostesses combined) feel that these problems that make up the highest proportion of medical deaths are just not sexy enough to get air time.
Concerning cancers specifically - according to the American Cancer Society more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. Breast cancer sees about 43,000 deaths a year. This is, of course, extremely sad. It is also just one of MANY diseases that require our attention, care, and awareness.
For a doctor there is no such thing as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every day, every week, and every month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is also Diabetes Awareness Month, Liver Disease Awareness Month, Arthritis Awareness Month, Drug Addiction Awareness Month, Colon Cancer Awareness Month, and the list goes on.
Let's take the hype out of disease and be aware that we live in complex times of global warming, war, disease and unlimited opportunities for all of us to get involved in helping in all these areas and not just the one a pretty face on TV tells us to help.
Dr. K.
Related Topics: Lung Cancer Q&A, Inactivity, Obesity Killing Americans
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1 Comments:
I absolutely agree with you! Too bad all of the homeless kids in our communities don't have some famous person getting them attention and help.
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