Finneran: No Secrets
Friday, March 11, 2016
History is on my side. March is always a tough and unpredictable month. April is notorious for raw weather and the occasional killing frost. That’s why you don’t plant tomatoes in April. Do any readers recall the legendary and god-awful storm of April 1st some years ago?
And believe it or not, the month of May can throw a curve at Boston. Strictly from memory, I recall an early May snowstorm which dumped several inches of snow here back in 1978!
I think the odds favor my side of the wager. And even if I lose I’ll feel like a winner. No more snow will be a blessing.
Full disclosure, 2: I have taken the pledge this week to avoid talk of candidates and campaigns. Americans are overloaded at the moment. Hype and hysteria, heavy breathing and rampant nonsense are afoot. There are eight months to go before we elect a new President.
There’s plenty of time to get excited or depressed. Or both. Plus, it’s important to remember that I’ve been wrong all along this election season. I am an idiot regarding the nation’s current politics.
Full disclosure, 3: Many thanks to readers and friends who have asked about my recovery from hip replacement surgery. Your correspondent is pleased to say that all is well. Dr. Dennis Burke belongs on Mount Olympus with the gods and on Mount Rushmore too. He is a prodigious talent and a peach of a man. Physical therapy proceeds nicely. I am pain-free and eager to have plenty of winning footraces with the grandkids. Papa is back, better than ever.
Full disclosure, 4: American medicine is not appreciated or understood. If you take reasonably good care of yourself---don’t smoke, drink in moderation, exercise with some consistency, avoid drugs---you will most likely have a foundation for a healthy future, a long and active life. American knowledge, American protocols, American devices, American doctors, and American drugs are without peer in the world. I know that people like to gripe about health care costs and I concede the fact of the argument. Yes, it is expensive. That is because we are an immensely wealthy society and wealthy societies spend a lot on healthcare. We do it because we can and because the alternatives, no healthcare or primitive care are entirely unacceptable to us. You could name dozens and dozens of countries whose healthcare costs are “low”. You would not want to live there. Indeed many die there.
And consider the science behind drug discovery for a moment. An ailment is identified---simple stuff like sneezing and a runny nose, more complicated stuff like high blood pressure, productive life issues brought on by chronic pain, or extremely serious stuff such as cancer---and a need arises. How does any scientist or company begin the search for a “cure”? Talk about finding a needle in a haystack. We’re talking about finding a microscopic needle in a moving haystack. As for me, I don’t complain about the price. Rather I’m grateful for the product. I hold the science in awe. And I understand that there are massive costs with equally massive risks---the research itself, the “dry holes”, the clinical trials, the years and years of effort, all consume many hundreds of millions of private investment dollars. Investors assume those risks in the hope of earning a return. The medicines those investors have created cure disease, prevent hospitalization, regain function and productivity, and improve life. Beware of those who would impose “price controls” on this system of research, discovery, and creation. Beware the killing of the golden goose.
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