The Marvels of Modern Medical Procedures

Most of us have benefited greatly from “modern medicine,” and from the standpoint of those who lived in previous times, even 100 years ago, much that is common now would have seemed quite marvelous to them. 

The Marvel of Knee Surgery

This is the first blog post I have finished writing since my July 20 knee replacement surgery. (My 7/25 post was written entirely before then.)

While I still have some discomfort, I have confidence that for years to come I will have far less knee pain than I had for months (and even years) before surgery. But what did people do before 1968?

It was in ’68 (when I was 30) that the first-ever total knee replacement surgery was completed, although the development of knee arthroplasty (joint replacement surgery) began way back in the early 1860s. But it was not even very satisfactory until several years after 1968

What about before then? Perhaps most people died before ever needing knee surgery—or they just had to put up with the pain.

June (my wife) had knee replacement surgery twelve years ago, and after a few weeks of recovery has had full use of that knee with little discomfort ever since. I am expecting the same—and I wish I had had this surgery last year.

I chose a clinic where the patient goes home the day of surgery “no matter what.” We left to go to the Total Joint Center at 5:15 a.m. and were home about eight hours later. Although I am sorry for the extra burden it put upon June, by midnight I was able to take care of my own needs.

How grateful I am that I now live in 2022 rather than in 1922—or even in 1972—and that I had easy access to a competent surgeon, proficient nurses, and a modern medical facility.

I am also grateful that I have insurance (a Medicare Advantage plan) that covered most of the expenses of the operation and the prescribed pain medicine.

The Marvel of C-section Births

June and I have been thrilled this year with the birth of our first two great-grandchildren, one in February and the second earlier this month.

Both of our precious great-grandchildren were born by cesarean delivery, not because of some emergency after labor began but because of conditions that led the doctors to conclude that C-section would be safer than natural birth.

Relatively safe cesarean deliveries date back to the 1920s, but such births became much more common after the development of penicillin in the 1940s—and then still more common after ultrasound (sonograms) became widely used in the 1970s.

The lives of many women and babies are now regularly being saved because of the availability of safe C-section deliveries.

So, again, I am most grateful for modern medical procedures, grateful for the benefit I have received this month and for the benefits that my granddaughters each received this year in the births of their babies.

What about Those for Whom Modern Medicine is not Available?

While I, as well as my two granddaughters and their husbands, were able to greatly benefit from the marvels of modern medical procedures this year, millions of USAmericans are not able to benefit as fully because of the lack of (adequate) insurance.

According to this Jan. 2022 website, approximately 30 million people in the United States are uninsured and risk financial ruin if they become ill or injured. Worse, there are approximately 9 million uninsured children in the country. That’s about one out of every 10 children in the United States.

In the poorer countries of the world, not only is there no insurance for masses of people, there are also far too few trained doctors and adequate medical facilities.

It is not surprising that the three countries with the highest infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births) are also among the top seven poorest countries in the world (as measured by their gross national income per capita).

Much more needs to be done domestically and internationally for all to be able to enjoy the marvels of modern medical procedures. Can’t we actively promote that?

Honoring Harry

The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, is a major tourist attraction in the Kansas City metropolitan area. This article was spawned partly because of June’s and my visit there on Monday, May 8.

REMEMBERING HARRY

Harry S. Truman was born on May 8 (in 1884), and that date is now celebrated as Truman Day, a state holiday. On Monday morning that special Missouri holiday was celebrated with ceremonies in the courtyard of the Truman Library where both Harry and his wife Bess are buried.

Truman Library Institute photo taken on 5/8/17 (June and I are next to the last people on the right.)

Harry was born in Lamar, Mo., and although he lived there for less than a year, the house in which he was born is still maintained as the Harry S Truman Birthplace State Historic Site. It is a modest house, indicative of the middle-class roots of the man who became the 33^rd POTUS.

The small town of Lamar is a little over 100 miles due south of Grandview (on the south side of Kansas City), the town nearest to where the Truman family moved in 1887 and where Harry lived from 1906 to 1917.

Harry was baptized in the Little Blue River in Kansas City in 1902 and in 1916 he joined the Grandview Baptist Church (as it was known then) and remained a member there the rest of his life—although for most of his life he attended very infrequently.

Truman helped finance a new building for the Grandview church, and he spoke at its dedication service in 1950. One Sunday morning many years ago, coincidentally on Pearl Harbor Day, I had the privilege of preaching in that church. Truman’s Bible, which he regularly read in the Oval Office, was on display in the foyer.

MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT HARRY

While I can understand the pressure Truman felt to use the atomic bombs he first learned about only after he became President in April 1945, and while I realize it is much easier to second-guess hard decisions in retrospect than to make those decisions looking forward, still I have serious doubts about the morality of his authorizing the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. The bombing of Nagasaki only three days after Hiroshima was bombed on August 6 is especially problematic.

Still, Truman is to be commended for firing General MacArthur and for refusing to escalate the Korean conflict even to the use of atomic weapons there. Truman did threaten to use atomic bombs in Korea, but he didn’t use them as MacArthur possibly would have.

Of many other things that might be said about Truman’s presidency, two are worthy of special note.

In November 1945, Truman proposed a national health insurance plan. Although it was never enacted, it did lead to Medicare. When President Johnson signed the Medicare bill into law at the Truman Library in July 1965, he said that it “all started really with the man from Independence.”

Truman also significantly furthered greater racial equality in the U.S. by issuing an executive order in July 1948 that desegregated the armed forces.

APPRECIATING HARRY

There is an enormous difference between Harry Truman and the current POTUS. While the latter campaigned as a populist candidate, it was Truman who was truly a “man of the people,” to use the title of the lengthy 1995 tome on Truman by Alonzo L. Hamby.

And after watching the HBO movie “Truman” (1995) on Sunday evening, I was also struck by the marked contrast between the honesty and integrity of the man from Missouri compared to the current POTUS.

It was an honor to be among the people who gathered on Monday to honor Harry on Truman Day.

Tearing Down / Building Up

To quote Mortimer Snerd (whom a few of you may remember), “Who'd a thunk it?” Last Friday the bill to repeal and replace “Obamacare” was pulled from the House floor. Thus, the ACA is still the law of the land “for the foreseeable future,” according to Speaker Paul Ryan.

TEARING DOWN OBAMACARE

For seven years the Republicans have been opposed to the ACA. The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to repeal or amend ACA more than 50 times since it was passed in October 2009.

As Time reported last week, “Republicans took control of the House in 2011, and on January 19 of that year they voted on, and passed, a measure to repeal all of the Affordable Care Act. (It was never considered by the Senate).”

Before and since his election, Pres. Trump has publicly promised at least 68 times that he would lead in repealing and replacing Obamacare. Here is what he tweeted on Feb. 14: “Obamacare continues to fail. . . . Will repeal, replace & save healthcare for ALL Americans.”

(Those 68 statements can be found at this website.)

There is a big difference, however, between tearing something down and building something to take its place.

FAILING TO BUILD A REPLACEMENT

In thinking about the failure of the American Health Care Act, I was reminded of an anonymous poem that I first heard 60 or so years ago (in spite of a woman claiming on the Internet that her grandfather wrote it in 1967). 

The Republicans found out that it is much easier to repeal (tear down) the current healthcare system that to replace it by building a new healthcare program. Wrecking is much easier than building.

So, where does national healthcare go from here?

PROPOSAL: RENAME AND BUILD UP

The current impasse could be overcome and a new and approved healthcare system could be implemented in this way:

First, Democrats would agree to call an improved healthcare system by the name of the Republican bill that was never voted on: the American Health Care Act. It would no longer be called Obamacare—just as it should probably never have been called that in the first place.

Then, the Republicans would agree to work with the Democrats in improving (building up what is already in place) the parts of ACA which are not working well: making it more affordable for everyone, giving people more choice, continuing to expand the program to cover all Americans, and so on.

Senate Minority Leader Schumer has already indicated willingness to cooperate in the hard work of building a better system. He is reported as saying, “If they [the Republicans] would denounce repeal . . . then we’ll work with them on improving it and making it better.”

Bipartisan efforts to build a better healthcare system is, doubtlessly, what the vast majority of the American people want—although it would still be opposed by those on the far right.

The latter would, also doubtlessly, continue to oppose having the federal government directly involved in healthcare, having equal or greater demand for taxes to pay for the continued (or expanded) program, and of not having tax breaks for the wealthy.

Constantly opposing any plan to tear down the current system and thus deprive millions of people from healthcare coverage, citizens who are concerned about all the people in our nation must demand that Congress build up (repair) the current healthcare system so it is better for all.

_____

THE REST OF THE POEM

For those of you who may be interested, here is the rest of the poem cited above: