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In a small rural and poor community in the South, the story is told of a much beloved family doctor, Dr. Jones. Because the individuals of this small, farming community often could not pay Dr. Jones, he graciously accepted whatever they could afford, often vegetables, such as tomatoes and onions or potatoes from their garden. He never made anyone feel badly or pressured about lack of payment because he loved his work and was dedicated to the care of his patients who became like family to him. Since so many of his patients could not afford to pay him, Dr. Jones had a modest office on the second floor above a store front. On the street level, was a crude wooden sign that said, "Dr. Jones" with an arrow pointing upward. Dr. Jones continued caring for his patients until he became too feeble to climb the stairs and carry out his duties. When he died, he was buried in an unmarked grave except for the crude wooden sign that somebody had moved to his grave "Dr. Jones" with the arrow pointing upward towards the sky.

Has the heart gone out of our healthcare system? Are there still compassionate healers available and dedicated to their patients? I believe there are, but I found the story of "Dr. Jones" deeply moving because, in my judgement, it is harder to find a "Dr. Jones" in today's highly economic driven health care system. Sadly, I am convinced that many individuals who go into health care services are largely motivated like "Dr. Jones" to devote their careers to helping others. The joy, however, has gone out of the profession for many of these dedicated practitioners who find themselves due to the slashing of fees by the powerful managed care companies required to see a larger and larger volume of patients just to hold from losing ground financially and to meet their heavy obligations of student loans, office overhead, and malpractice insurance. Few healthcare disciplines today escape these pressures and the battle to remain viable economically makes it difficult to practice in the ways that most professionals would prefer to practice, lower volume of patients, more time and attention given to each patient, and emphasis on the quality of the patient-doctor relationship. Outrageously, it was announced on the TV news a few years back that the highest paid executive in the entire country that year was the CEO of a managed health care company. His salary plus bonuses and perks amounted to $126 million for the year. What a loss for all the rest of us.

The need for more of the heart driven approach of "Dr. Jones" was driven home to me in a dramatic recent experience. I was leaving my office on a Friday evening in the middle of winter and I found a man lying flat on his back on the cold concrete in the parking lot behind my office building. He was experiencing numbness, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. A friend was standing by him and the man on the ground had pursuaded him not to call 911 because he had no health insurance. Although I am not a physician, I could clearly tell this man was in an acute medical crisis. I told him that hospitals have provisions to provide emergency care for individuals who can't afford it or lack health insurance. I insisted on calling 911, gathered some blankets to put over him to hold him warm and a pillow to put under his head. The ambulance finally arrived and he was loaded in and taken to the nearest hospital. Not until I saw the 60 Minutes segment on TV on March 5th, did I fully appreciate this man's anguish. The program portrayed how some hospitals charge the uninsured several times more than they charge insurance companies for the same services and procedures and go after them aggressively to collect the money. Some of the families and individuals interviewed on the program had either declared bankruptcy or were terribly afraid they would not be able to pay the huge sums of money they owed the hospitals after a member of the family had suffered a heart attack or some other acute medical problem. What an outrage! There is no need to demonize the hospitals. There is plenty of blame to go around. The whole system is lousy and all too often dehumanizing. Rather than throw around blame, let's pursue in an aggressive manner solutions to this heathcare nightmare. "Dr. Jones" we surely miss you!