It’s been a long time since my anthropology-major-brain has reared it’s curious little eyes, but it’s been weighing heavy on me of late. I’ve really been thinking about the systems in place and how they got there, and why they got there, and the more I spend time thinking about this, the less I like the answers I find.
The whole question arises from some research into iatrogenic death and disease. This is a topic that is close to me right now. Too close. I am pissed at how things have unfolded for a dear friend, and I see the gaping holes in our system that allow for this to happen.
Then it really hit me.
The analogy.
The profit driven, corporate culture that parents research, pharma, and healthcare, food, technology, is a similar systemic problem that can lead to the death of the whole exactly as autoimmune disease’s systemic, endemic nature can lead to the death of the individual if left unchecked.
Just like inside the body, we as a society have placed our trust in the protective promises of these profit driven giants, and their reach is so deep, so varied, so wide, that the negative manifestations of this systemic disease are thought to be of different origins, but are in fact all part of the same problem.
There is no money in health. Or so it is expected. This is just a theory because it hasn’t happened yet. There is an entire economy built around chronic illness. From healthcare professionals, to techs, to pharmaceutical companies, to charities, to home care programs, transportation companies, and it goes on and on and on.
Looking at the problem from this perspective makes it look completely insurmountable, but it also seemed absolutely impossible to me to be able to go for a walk with my little girl ever again when I came out of the hospital. Yet with baby steps, I was proven wrong. I think with baby steps we can absolutely rock the world. This is the age when we as a group will change the face of healthcare. Let’s do it! Got something better to do?
Find The Common Thread Foundation 