With the JPM Healthcare Conference kicking off today, I thought the following quote might prompt discussion. It comes from the 1971 film “The Hospital”.
“It's all rubbish isn’t it... I mean…Transplants, antibodies, we manufacture genes, we can produce birth ectogenetically, we can practically clone people like carrots, and half the kids in this ghetto haven't even been inoculated for polio! We have established the most enormous medical entity ever conceived, and people are sicker than ever! We cure nothing! We heal nothing! The whole goddam wretched world is strangulating in front of our eyes! That's what I mean when I say impotent! You don't know what the hell I'm talking about, do you?”
The Hospital was written by Paddy Chayefsky and developed out this own experiences dealing with New York hospitals in the 1970s. But in some ways the monologue above feels like it could have been written yesterday.
The film is well worth checking out, and you can find whole monologue expertly delivered by George C Scott on YouTube.