health care
It is the duty of society to take care of its individuals, plain and simple. We will never be healthier than our sickest member.
“Another Shoe,” in Half Empty (New York: Doubleday, 2010), 221.
The simple view is that medicine exists to fight death and disease, and that is, of course, its most basic task. Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins. And, in a war that you cannot win, you don’t want a general who fights to the point of total annihilation. You don’t want Custer. You want Robert E. Lee, someone who knew how to fight for territory when he could and how to surrender when he couldn’t, someone who understood that the damage is greatest if all you do is fight to the bitter end.
“Letting Go,” The New Yorker, August 2, 2010.