Reflections from the Jail

Its been 7 days since I finished the Neurological Sciences block, and that means that this past week has been Capstone Week. This is the 2nd Capstone week that we've had at school. The first was after the MBLD block and it was good. I learned a lot, but this week was different. I think that it was perhaps because I've got a bit more experience in medicine (I actually understand a lot of the words that were said). Understanding the medical jargon and the basics about a lot of procedures and exams allowed me to concentrate on different aspects of each experience. Instead of trying to understand what the physicians were doing, I was able to ask the deeper why questions.

Of the 4 places I visited, I was most struck by my visit to the jail on Lower Buckeye. We got a full on  

tour of the jail. There were maximum inmates, minimum inmates, and of course the real reason we were there the psych and infirmary inmates. The first thing that I immediately noticed was that jail is terrifying. I never want to go there. It was like a hospital but where all the halls were this drab gray and the doors too and everything is at least a foot thick and locked so that you have to flash gang signs at the camera that is always watching you in order to get them to open. Like I said, terrifying. Having inmates walking around with the ability to totally overwhelm the guards if they worked together, didn't help. That was the first thing that I noticed.

The next thing that I became aware of was how awesome the benefits of being a doctor employed by the jail would be. No lie, but it would be awesome. The providers work from 7-3, 5 days a week, and has the ability to "refuse" medical treatment (refuse is in parentheses because you can't refuse everything but if inmates/patients are being unruly than you can just dismiss them until they can behave themselves). Pay is a little less than in the private sector, but malpractice is payed for, as well as a new type of insurance I learned about called tail end insurance (you need to still have insurance for up to 5 years after you finish practicing medicine to protect yourself from the last few patients you ever see. Eff.). There is also a pension after retirement because you have worked for the state. Like I said, awesome.

This is the last thing that occurred to me from my visit to the jail, it is also the largest and has caused me to reflect the most. If I were to work at the jail, I would be providing inmates and alleged inmates (read child molesters, thieves, murderers, drug dealers, etc.) with what is essentially free healthcare for them. This thought didn't sit well with me while I was at the jail and it still doesn't sit well with me. There are numerous reasons which rankle me which really just raise more issues about our health care system:

1. These criminals (even if it's still only alleged) have access to great healthcare while there are thousands of people don't have access and can't get even remotely good health care.
2. These criminals receive care at someone else's expense, and many have learned to take advantage of that, committing small time crimes in order to incarcerated at just the right time to receive treatment.
3. Similar to number 2, getting medical treatment delays court dates, transfers, and numerous other things.

But it can all be narrowed down to one issue, whether health care is a basic human right or a privilege. I know where I stand, and not just because I will be working in the health care industry for the rest of my life. Health care is a privilege to be received because you have earned it or because someone has had enough compassion to gift it to you. I don’t like what is going on in the jail and I don’t like to see people suffer when there is the ability to prevent it. I don’t have a solution for the jail, nor for the health care system in America but I do know this. Consequences come with the choices we make, and if suffering is such a consequence, we sometimes have to suffer in order to learn. I also know that forced compassion is not compassion. Making me provide health care for someone eliminates the notion of compassion and charity (which I believe is part of the purpose of this life).

Rant: Arizona Drivers

This is what it feels like I am driving behind every day! 

When I first got to Arizona I noticed that people here drove slowly, and it was extremely frustrating. I recently drove to my parent's house in SLC, UT (a drive of no less than 700 miles and 12 hours one way), and this frustrating phenomenon became infuriating! You can tell almost immediately when you enter Arizona. Not because the speed limit changes but because everyone slows way the crap down. Let me elaborate. Speed limits here in Phoenix, where I live, are normal speed limits, 65 mph on the freeway and 35-40 on the main roads in town. This is taken to mean that you must drive the listed speed unless you want to go slower or you are in the left lane, in which case you can go the listed speed limit. It is absolutely amazing to me to fly past people in my 4runner doing the same speeds that I did in the far right lane in SLC. A great man, my dad, once said, "Anyone not in a hurry, should be." I think he was talking about people in Arizona.

Note: It's not just the old people, Asians, or women (its not racist or sexist if its true). Everyone drives slow.
Also of note: I pass a lot of people in the carpool lane which is only carpool M-F from 6am to 10am and 3pm to 7pm.