Where has all the milk of human kindness gone?
By zandi458
@zandi458 (28102)
Malaysia
October 9, 2008 5:11pm CST
What comes to my mind, and in truth what has been on my mind for quite a long time is this question of class and class distinction. The question of classes in public transport was emphasized even more than before. In planes, first class, economy class, it is sickening to see the kind of attention and fussing given to the first class passengers because of the difference in fares. In hospitals, first class beds, second class beds and third class beds. When we come to clases in hospital beds, the service differes greatly according to the classes. Here we have people who are sick, suffering from all sorts of ailments, sometimes requiring similar treatment, care and consideration. But the care, consideration and even total approach to the sick is related directly to how much you can afford to pay.
The chap who has got money gets into a first class bed, he is a first class guy and is pampered, put up with in any way he wishes because of money. The nurses have built in smiles for him all the time, the doctor sees him three to four times a day and inquires, with all the time in the world, how the patient is, is there anything else that can be done to make him more comfortable? Is the food alright? The third class patient gets none of that. He can lump if he doesn't like the attitudes of the nurses and doctors or the kind of food he is served. The nurses scrowl at him, there is no smile. The doctors make hurried, what a nuisance you are type of ward rounds. It's clear that the third class patient is not a potential client when the doctor leaves for outside practice - the third class patient is hardly likely to be able afford the fees outside. Even in sickness money rule more than kindess. This is the most ungracious manner of human nature, where kindness is concern. Money has power in many areas but let the treatment of the sick stand apart from these other areas. Give your views on the above subject.
5 people like this
9 responses
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
9 Oct 08
Sad but there is a shortage of human kindness. Money and looks always get preference in this world. Very sad, but humanity is not about to change. 
2 people like this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
11 Oct 08
Sorry for not explaining myself properly. I was not talking about my friends. I was condemning humanity in general. Looks and money get the advantages. Those who don't have looks and money are not usually favored in this world. And it is people (true not all people) that make the wars, the rapes, the child abuse, the crimes, the extortions, the cheating, the lying, the pollution that we read or see every single day in the news. True there are some decent people but they are few and far between. I'm not being negative. I'm just telling it as it is. WE have a lot of potential but we simply (in general) don't care. We have very little pity, very little sympathy,very little love. We could easily solve 99 % of humanity's problem if we cared, worked together for the common good. This earth is rich beyond imagination and yet there are so many starving people. We could cure most diseases but we promote things that will make people sick instead of healthy. Man has so much potential for good but blind greed and stupidity is ruining the planet. That's what I'm talking about.
1 person likes this
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
12 Oct 08
There is still a case for trying to reduce distress and to improve life and living, and at the same time give man a certain minimum in dignity and remove as far as possible any barriers that are obstacles to the fact that all men and women are equal.
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
10 Oct 08
Well I think I get great treatment some times to much! and I am with a great group insurance
I even get surveys to rate the treatment received.
And the most down and out person I have talked to int the hospital seemed to have got good treatments So I dont see the bias here in Nevada
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
10 Oct 08
You have two choices, either we treat everyone equally and that means that the rich person may not get the right treatment because part of it has to go to the poor, so in that case it is only the poor who benefits. This leads to communism.
Or those who are able to pay the cost get the best medical care. And the rest only get what they can afford to.
Now is a third choice, in which either those who cannot afford the treatments at one shot, pool their money into medical insurance and with the interest gained, can now afford getting the help they need because some people are incredibly healthy and do not need it or they may die in accidents before they get the treatment.
The fourth choice is that we are all approached by charitable organizations who will ask for money for research or to pay for operations for the poor.
The third one is the best, but once that is done, the physician should treat all equally.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Oct 08
hi zandi I am here in the US and I can truly say I dont see
much of that sort of stuff in our local hospitals. I was treated
just as well as a wealthy person when I broke my left shoulder'and was hospitalized to have surgery. I am elderly and have an hmo which covered all my expenses which were huge, so no I didnt see any class distinction at all. I am sure all this does exist but its just not prevelant in the places where I go for medical attention. I deplore the conditions you describe and feel something has to be done to right all that.
1 person likes this
@Bobbysox (224)
•
10 Oct 08
The milk of human kindness is still out there,but you have to look a little harder to find it,which is pretty sad really.There are so many people that are solely out for themselves these days,they have no interest in anyone else at all.We are pretty lucky where we live,we have good neighbours and to some extent we do all look out for each other,but for the most part the whole world is just a dog eat dog society.
1 person likes this
@lynnemg (4529)
• United States
10 Oct 08
I don't think there is a shortage of huma kindness. I see it each and every day. It may be so much as being curtious to your neighbor, helping a stranger reach an object in the store, or simply smiling at someone.
In my experience, working in a nursing home, and also being a poor patient, I have never seen an instance where patients were treated differently because of their financial status. I am not saying it does not happen, I am just saying that I have not witnessed it myself.
1 person likes this
@liranlgo (5752)
• Israel
10 Oct 08
I am with you on that.
I really wish the situation was different.
I know that here in israel we try and struggle to change this situation,
but it seems that money really "rules".
I know that there is one thing here that makes me feel better,
and that is the human kindness you talked about.
There are alte of groups here and people that are helping.
we have what is called: 'gamach'.
and that means that if you are missing somthing from food to everything else,
you can turn to the 'gamach' and they will give you what you need.
About the capatilisim, the situation that money rules, i really do not see how things will change, it seems all the world has got this "flu".
My only hope is those kind people and groups that have this human kindness and are there to help always.
I see my mother give a bit of what she got to poor and sick people every month, she never says anything, but i found out she is quietly doing that for years.
I see my father helping troubled children without a fee, and my neighbour gives out food to poor people each month.
Those people are the kindness of the world and i am lucky to be surrounded by them,
they give the world hope, and there is a quiet large amount of people that i discover each year that have this "quiet kindness" that gives hope fot this world.
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
10 Oct 08
It was replaced by the rule of money and greed. Some people die because a hospital will not even let them in because they have no money. Money rules everything but not all doctors are like this. Hospitals will argue that they cannot afford to care for the poor as the treatment is expensive.
The poor have always suffered and the only way to change the way hospitals work is to fund them all by the government and have everyone covered by the same medical insurance. But you will find that some people will cry socialism and treat this idea with hatred. Some people just don't care if the poor die.
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
12 Oct 08
Even in government run hospitals we still have these medical staff, doctors, nurses lacking this human kindness when they are bogged down by over worked or their discrimanting attitude towards the poor as mostly the poor uses the government facilities but these poor people has a tremendous capacity to withstand insults and the most traumatic conditions and come out of it standing upright.
@ron0540 (30)
• United States
10 Oct 08
You bring up the most difficult subjects. And the subjects that must be discussed among the people of all communities, all corners of the world. Hospitals are reflective of society in general. There is so much that is wrong with the way we deal with the under privileged, the sick, the poor, the disabled, abandoned children, Homelessness. So many things. Some of these things are handled better today than a hundred years ago. But then this is different from country to country. There is no aspect of how we deal with adversity that should not be improved. But we have to deal with these situations as best we can. I know doctors in Asia that hurt when they see what is not being done because there is only 24 hours in a day and they already are working 18 to 20 hours, there is only 'X' number of beds in the hospital. And in Africa they can't stop malaria because there is not something so basic as mosquito nets. In the USA, we have problems equal to those of any where else. It was once said the this is the worst system in the world, except for all the other known systems. We have to deal with what we have. The rich guy in the single room with cable TV and a private nurse pays for his services and treatment, plus the cost of treating four other patience's with no financial means. No rich patience's, no treatment for the poor. Nothing. Its difficult. Its not perfect. But these systems evolve. And they never stop evolving to become a better place. I think that we people of the world, are on a mission to learn more, to understand more, to invent more, to help more, and to know that there is no end to trying to improve.
Just some thoughts that you stimulated 'Zandi', and I thank you for the exchange.
1 person likes this
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
12 Oct 08
There is one solution to this ugly state of affairs and that is to have classless hospitals. There is no need to have Class A, B, C or first, second and third class. What is necessary are beds and treatment made available to rich and poor, with no discrimination.
