Rationing Healthcare Was Eye-Opening, Essay Example

Henslin’s article about rationing healthcare was eye-opening. The question posed at the beginning of the article puts the reader into the shoes of the doctor that must make the choice. I found myself actually weighing the lives of two people and internally deciding that the old woman had lived her life and had a death sentence as it was. Such a cold and clinical decision is easier made from the safety of my own home—I don’t have to look that patient’s family in the eyes and tell them that their loved one’s life is not as valuable as another patient.

This article opens the reader’s eyes to the ugly realities that doctors face every single day in real life situations. When I read this article, I reflected on a time when I was in a situation that there were many people who needed medical resources, but not enough of those resources to go around. Luckily, my situation was not a life and death situation—nobody died because they didn’t get their share of the resources. That being said, I don’t know what I would do if I were put into a situation in which I had to ration life-saving healthcare and essentially “play God.” My personal experience with a similar situation and a passion for this type of topic drove me to write this essay.

When I was in high school, I went to every home football game. At one of those games, one football player performed an especially nasty tackle against another. Both players were hurt, and both players required medical attention. At the time, there was only one ambulance at the school, so the paramedics had to decide which player to transport first. Both players had head injuries, so it was equally important for both players to be seen at the hospital. In the end, the paramedics chose the player who was from the away team and the home team player’s parents followed the ambulance to the hospital. Both players were fine in the end, but it is situations like this that make you realize that things could have gone much differently. Not every situation such as this one plays out to a happy ending.

In extreme situations, such as combat, inadequate healthcare is a way of life. Soldiers carry feminine products in their packs to plug bullet holes in the event that they are wounded and there is not a combat medic available. Resources like QuikClot are valued beyond measure by soldiers in these situations. Government spending notwithstanding, the reduced access to healthcare is a sobering reality on the battlefield. In a combat situation, combat medics must make the choice of who they help which often means making the choice of who lives and who dies. As we sit comfortably at home, these decisions don’t affect us, but reading an article such as this one brings the problem to our doorsteps.

In conclusion, healthcare is an expensive resource, and there is not always enough of it to go around. In extreme situations, sometimes decisions must be made that affect who lives and who dies. Deciding who lives and who dies cannot be an easy job, and I do not envy the doctors that must make these decisions every day of their careers. Realizing how hard a doctor’s job must actually be gives me a new appreciation for the men and women that work in the healthcare industry.