> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Doctors are catalysts for improvement, too - URL: https://www.smdp.com/doctors-are-catalysts-for-improvement-too/ - Published: 2007-04-24T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T00:37:40.000Z - Author: David Pisarra - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import (Editor’s note: Disclaimer — David Pisarra owns Gateway SleepLabs, a medical diagnostic company.) IN POLITICS, THE PHRASE “THE THIRD rail” is used in reference to a topic that no one wants to touch because, like the electrified third rail of a subway system, touch it and you die. The most dangerous of all third rails in politics is social security. That is because you cannot change it without annoying the beneficiaries by reducing their monthly allotments, and you cannot make any changes to it without annoying the benefactors by raising their contributions to it, which come directly from their paychecks. This same type of analysis is what we are facing in the problem arena of how to fix the distribution of medicine in this country. We have technologies and treatments to cure or alleviate almost every condition but poverty. There are drugs you can take which can enhance your physical performance, and others to help with your mental performance. We can increase your life expectancy and lower your blood pressure. We can extend your bedroom performance and move hair on your head. But the one thing that we cannot do adequately is alleviate poverty.The poor in this state, and really the world as a whole, have an inability to get all the medical care that is available. There is a reason for this. We live in a world of capitalists. Capitalism is the natural order of life. We need look no further than the lowly ant colony to see it in action. There is a queen and she makes workers all day long. The workers, who all perform various tasks for the benefit of the colony, provide her with everything she needs to keep doing her part in creating more workers. Now some would say this is not capitalism, it is communism. Everyone doing their part for the benefit of the colony. However, the colony does not create the queen, she creates the colony. This is much like the way in which a company is created. The workers do not band together and say, “Let’s build a business.” Rather, one person says, “I want to build a business that does X,” and they start doing it. Then they hire someone else. But all the initial investment comes from one person, or occasionally a small group of people might band together to build something, but that is rarer. Society likes to look to medicine and say, “there goes a group of altruistic people,” that doctors and nurses are saving lives for the sake of saving lives. We paint doctors and nurses as saintly, heroes in white coats, and saviors. Certainly, this romantic vision is rooted in truth. Any visit to an emergency room and one will see frantic doctors and nurses giving their all to save the life of someone who is unknown. There is no doubt that doctors are dedicated to their profession. Why else would anyone go through the hell that is medical school and residency,only to enter the world saddled with crushing debt, and a society that is desperately trying to put them out of business? Yes, society is trying to put doctors out of business. It starts with the patients who pay premiums and complain that they cannot get all the medical treatment they need at no or low cost. Then there are the politicians who will sell out the doctors to placate the patients in order to get votes. The insurance companies limit what they pay for, to maximize their profits. Through it all, there is the smoke and mirrors of what medicine is all about. When it is convenient for a politician to say, “medicine should be available for all,” she takes the altruistic high road. But when the insurance companies balk, she says, “companies should be allowed to make a profit.” So is medicine an altruistic endeavor or a business? Well, it’s both. But without the business side the altruistic side cannot exist. Just because we can prevent, cure or treat an individual person’s medical condition, doesn’t mean that everyone is entitled to treatment. Treatments must be administered — the doctor needs to be paid. Doctors have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in themselves, and they need to be compensated for their investment. It would be a wonderful world if everyone was treated for everything, and we had all that our hearts desire. But we don’t live in that world. We live in a world of capitalism, which includes doctors, nurses and hospitals. The sooner we remember that, the sooner we can come up with real solutions to the real problems of the day. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 24, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042407.pdf?ref=smdp.com)