Abating the spread of boutique medical services
I object to both opinion pieces published on so-called boutique medical services in the February 11th issue of The Daily Princetonian. The recent sporadic appearance of boutique practices raises important questions about the state of our healthcare system and medical ethics in general. Rather than seizing this opportunity to put forth thoughtful ideas that demonstrate a balanced perspective, both columns offer inflammatory, oversimplified, and unoriginal analyses that serve to polarize readers on either side of the issue rather than foster any productive discussion.
Very few actually believe that healthcare should be bought and sold like groceries, as Harkleroad suggests, or that banning boutique practices will put us on a course towards banning private education. Likewise, few believe that the new problems doctors face, which Efros simply refers to as "hassles," are as innocuous as her personal anecdotes make them seem. A closer look might reveal that these doctors are motivated less by "blatant greed" and more by frustration with the wholesale changes in their profession that have compromised their ability to effectively administer care.
Since none of the catastrophic consequences that these columnists predict are actually imminent, perhaps we should put aside the rhetoric and consider what the emergence of these boutique practices represents: the frustration of doctors and patients (both insured and uninsured) alike with the current state of affairs. Reforming healthcare in a way that addresses the needs of doctors, all patients, and our nation's obligation to aggressively research new therapies needs to take a more prominent place in the national political dialogue. The rising cost of healthcare is nobody's fault and is an unavoidable fact of modern medicine. Perhaps if, in place of reactionary finger pointing, there is a proactive effort to remedy the problems that brought about these troublesome boutique practices, then their spread can be abated. Al Garfall '02
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