Do Not Lose Hope

By: Marc Yester, Class of 2006

Marc Yester is a Morgantown, WV native and graduate of Morgantown High School. He studied Chemistry at the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences prior to his matriculation to the WVU School of Medicine as part of the Class of 2006. He served as President of his class and plans to pursue a residency in Pediatrics.

The recent tragedy involving the young woman Jessica Santillan is another story in the long line of depressing news accounts involving the health care system in our country. This sad story reminds us all of the inherent dangers and potential for err in health care. Yet until this ill-fated case, physicians in our state and across the country found themselves portrayed in a potentially far worse light. Matters concerning malpractice insurance dominate the headlines of our local papers: “Area M.D. eyes the highway,” “Surgeons begin walkout at four W.Va. hospitals,” “Prepare for mass exodus of doctors.” Editorials flood the paper with personal stories of patient injustices and doctor’s departures. Despite the disheartening analysis, often is the case that hope evades the eyes of the media.

Hope certainly exists within the institutions, physicians and students; and the health care system continues to advance as physicians are better trained to operate within the climate of our times. Assurance for the future remains as long as people are still willing to dedicate their lives to the health and happiness of others. Still the images of health care are tainted by political action and monetary concerns. The majority of health care news in our state relates to malpractice issues, and as a result physicians enter the public eye under the appearance of a labor union. Campaigns aimed at lowering insurance rates and tax breaks create settings in which physicians act in manner contrary to that of an interaction with a patients. Negative impressions form toward health care providers due to fundamental concerns of financial matters. In this contemporary environment of skepticism, health care providers face obstacles aside from those of a patient’s malady.

Here at West Virginia University, initiation of programs and curriculum changes, seek to compensate for inequities. Classes at the School of Medicine, such as Patient Diagnosis and Clinical Integration, focus solely on the patient interaction. New institutions like STAR (Serving Together, Achieving Results) at the Health Sciences Center of WVU concentrate on creating “a professional, caring, and courteous manner…and creating an environment of compassion…especially for patients and their families.” With programs such as these the health care profession can move back to one of caring and treating in a symbiotic relationship.

Currently, the dynamic of a doctor-patient relationship is often a consumer based association. The patients in many cases, no longer seek instruction or counsel but rather consultants and facilitators (a manifestation of personal internet research and prescription drug advertisements.) And as healers we often offer little more than the newest technology and diagnostic procedures. We focus more and more on the structure, chemistry, physiology and pathology of the body and less on the context of the human as a whole. But now changes are required and the practices of medicine must adapt to these alterations in order to continually guide our patients through life in the manner they see fit. We must reestablish the focus upon the patient as a human being, with our goals frequently concentrated towards improving the quality of life rather than quantitatively aspects of living.