While I was tasting fine wines for Walnut Creek's Fall Wine Walk Wednesday night, several hundred people attended a Town Hall meeting on the health care debate at the Lesher Center."Concerned Doctors Speak Out on Health Care": This was the subtitle for this special meeting hosted by doctors Len Bristow and Len Saputo. KTVU covered the event, and described it as a civilized, thoughtful and informative, unlike recent, raucous health care town halls hosted by politicians.
As the program says:
Health care problems are as complex as they are abundant, but few voices are offering anything that focuses on the deeper, underlying issues. Two seasoned physicians will share a vision for progressive change, inspired not only by experience but by a deep awareness that we must build community in a meaningful way if we are to heal what is broken around us. Join us for an evening of hard truths, positive solutions and fresh perspectives.
Those physicians speaking in Walnut Creek Wednesday were:
--Len Saputo, who founded and directs walnut Creek's Health Medicine Center--one of the first "integrate" clinics. He is also author of the new book, A Return to Healing. More biographical information? Saputo is a 1965 graduate of Duke University Medical School, and is board certified in internal medicine. After his awakening to the deep flaws in conventional medicine, he developed a new paradigm that is now known as integral-health medicine. After founding the Health Medicine Forum in 1994, and went on to found and direct the Health Medicine Center in Walnut Creek. He is the author of A Return to Healing – Radical Healthcare Reform and the Future of Medicine.
--Lonnie R. Bristow, the former president of the American Medical Association. Bristow "has written and lectured extensively on medical science as well as socioeconomic and ethical issues related to medicine. He is a board-certified internist who received his M.D. from New York University College of Medicine. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and was a member of its Quality of Health Care in America committee, which in 1999 and 2001 respectively, issued the widely read reports "To Err Is Human, and Crossing the Quality Chasm." He was a chairman of the IOM Committee on Strategies for Increasing the Diversity of the U.S. Health Care Workforce when that committee issued the report, In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health-Care Workforce.
Did you attend their talk about health care. If so, what did you think?
9 comments:
Dang I missed it, I was hoping to go and yell disruptive mindless nonsense because rush and Glenn Beck told me to.
Sorry...the Wine Walk was more important for my health what with the exercise and antioxidants.
Doctor's can obviously have bias. I was listening to some of the views from these doctors on the news.
Doctors are a for-profit profession. They are interested in getting the most amount of money for doctors' salaries. They were opposed to anything that might reduce the amount of money paid to doctors even if it meant that more people would be able to get a health plan.
The group that might benefit from health care reform are pharmaceutical companies. Drug companies could profit from increased sales of medication.
The health care system in America is broken. It is a ruthless for-profit system that is run by money hungry insurance companies. They don't care about people's lives, they only care about profits and making money off of people. Insurance companies are nothing but money making businesses with high levels of corruption.
I attended the wine walk also. It was great!!! Very nice time and sense of community. I will attend again.
Listening to two doctors discuss how they can save the world... The ego on these types.. I know, I work with them.
Anon 3:08 is this just a feeling you have or do you have any evidence to back up your statments?
A recent study of doctors published by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as reported on NPR and published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a majority of doctors support the public option in the health care debate.
Here are some of the key findings:
- a majority of physicians (62.9%) supported public and private options
- 27.3% supported offering private options only
- there was also majority support for a public option among AMA members (62.2%)
here is the link to the JEM publication
http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=1790
Republicans oppose the public option. They are doing everything they can to oppose a government plan. A compromise that is being suggested right now is the idea of healthcare cooperatives instead of a a public plan.
One of the doctors said that the healthcare cooperative option cannot work. He said that healthcare coops have been tried in this country before and they failed.
The Republicans will not support the public option and this could doom everything. This healthcare reform is a mess because the politicians cannot agree on anything.
*** OFF TOPIC ***
Soccer Mom maybe you should have a mailbox linked to that page?
I was wondering you dedicated multiple articles back to the tragic death of Joseph Loudon the Orinda teen. I'm surprised you didn't follow up with the recent news that the Contra Costa Coroner's office findings of large amounts papaverine, a prescription opiate were wrong. As a matter of fact the autopsy was performed after a tissue bank did remove organs for transplantation and it was actually the tissue bank who infused papaverine as a standard protocol to harvest the donor organs.
I think after the media reported the cause of death to be at least linked to drug abuse based on this report the family would deserve that this false fact is cleared up.
I'm also shocked that the CCC Coroner's office would not ensure the integrity of the samples they tested before they release such findings. I think it sheds very bad light on their work and since the Sheriff is the ultimate head of that office another public apology might be in order.
Here is a link to a another east bay blog describing the findings
http://eastbaydaze.blogspot.com/2009/09/papaverine-administered-after-joe.html
Anon. Sept 17, 8:02 p.m.
Thanks for your note, and don't worry about it being off topic. I have in fact been following the latest developments in the Joe Loudon case, and just wanted to get into contact myself with Joe's mom and uncle. They've responded, and I plan to address the issue.
I was witness to the incredibly enlightening Town Hall event with Dr. Saputo and Dr. Bristow. They came with purpose to inform the public... not push a political agenda. Their passion for the community and to educate on how we can heal ourselves and our broke health care system was felt by most all who attended. I was inspired to see over 300 people participate in a grassroots effort for change. There is a plan for more events with Saputo and Bristow to come. Seriously, our society has a lot to learn from these men.
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