To the list,
This is a terrible tale. Why do
you think this is? And what do you think is the
answer? Are there too few doctors? Is the society
so cheap that they won't care for their own sick? What
is England's tax situation compared to Sweden or Denmark where the culture seems
more amenable to taking care of themselves? Meanwhile
for a modern tale about America's failure in their neo-orthodox solution to
libertarian economics read Krugman at:
So the dualistic solution to all of this is be
private or be public but it seems both are "screwy" and self interested like
Enron executives and their community. In the operatic
world, such dysfunction is often placed at the door of speaking English rather
than one of those other more logical and singable languages. Maybe
the problem is that we all speak English.
So what is Keith suggesting for the future of
medical work in England or is it a genetic problem with the English not being
able to figure it out?
I would add that there seems to be a different kind
of Englishman from my first voice teacher Dame Eva Turner who would have
listened to such complaints for about 20 seconds and then chided someone in
her ever so elegant manner. As delightful and ladylike as she
was, she had the most cutting wit and tongue as I have ever
known. You wouldn't even know that you had been
ridiculed until you thought about it for a couple of days.
As the beautiful and gorgeous voiced Dame Kiri
Te Kanawa described her "plight", on Robert Merrill's Tosca Diva Video
entitled "I live for Art", to the white haired smiling old lady sitting
across from her. Dame Kiri was complaining about her
professional situation with windowless practice rooms, and being away from
her children all the time for her professional career, to the smiling 92 year
old Diva who had given up marriage and children for her
career. (I can just see Ingred Berman in the movie "Autumn
Sonata" saying the same thing.) If you watched you would see a slight
tightening around the eyes in spite of the huge grin on Dame Eva's
face. As the New Zealand Dame Kiri complained, it became
obvious that anyone who knew the esteemed Elder would read the message behind
her rather condescending "Yes Dear, that is too
bad!" (Damn this medium, it just can't catch the wonderful
nuance and so all I can do is explain, explain,
explain! Perhaps the New Zealanders on this list will complain
that Dame Kiri is from Australia. That it was Australia who
"educated out" her Maori toughness and should now get the blame rather
than the home of her ancestors.)
Anyway, let it be said that the esteemed Elder
(who had one of the mightiest sopranos on record and who made her reputation
singing the Ice Princess Turandot in the greatest opera houses in the world
under Arturo Toscanini and who then mentored the likes of Dame Gwyneth Jones and
others doing the same - that same lady who saw her life go up in the smoke of
the blitz and who lost the best five years of her artistry to the insanity of
war caused by the failure of the economics profession's theories), yes that
grand Dame would have sold her soul again to be able to do what Dame Kiri
complained about.
So the question I put forth is
this. Have the English grown too middle class and lost that
toughness that I learned coming from the Quapaw Reservation driving 250
miles across the prairie for voice lessons from this magnificent old lady who
changed my life? (Dame Eva was the first of many
magnificent and brutal gatekeepers that I would study with over the years in
this profession.)
Dear, it seems very simple. If you lack
Doctors then pay them enough for more people to become
Doctors. If you lack hospitals then build
them. Or we can say simply "Yes dear that is a very
sad story" and go on with life like those tough Italians you meet in the opera
world.
Cheers
Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director
The Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble, Inc.
----- Original Message -----
From: Keith Hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 3:03
AM
Subject: Top-down
collapse
> apace -- as hinted at by Tony Blair some days ago.
>
> 1. Patients are now being exported to Europe. NHS patients who have been
> awaiting operations for years in this country have now been allowed to go
> to Europe for their operations -- paid for by the NHS. The first batch of
> travelled to Lisle, France, yesterday on Eurostar railway. They will be
> treated in a French private hospital.
>
> 2. Alan Milburn, Minister for Health, has announced that hospitals will be
> allowed to manage themselves from now onwards (once they have gained enough
> "points" -- as decided by civil servants in London who still can't easily
> let go of control!). Those that want to be managed professionally by
> private firms for efficiency's sake will be able to do so. Anyway, this is
> beginning of the restoration of independence and innovation to the several
> thousand hospitals, private and local authority, that used to exist 54
> years ago before the costly experiment was started.
>
> 3. Not only are patients having to wait on trolleys in hospital corridors
> (and in ambulances outside) for hours and sometimes a whole day or two
> before being treated, but many National Health Service hospital doctors who
> are on emergency call are also having to live in sub-standard
> accommodation. The British Medical Journal complain today about the
> hospital bedrooms allocated to emergency doctors (who work 70+ hours a week
> and need sleep whenever they can get it). Some rooms have cockroaches,
> others have no running water or toilets, others can't be locked. (One
> doctor, after returning from treating a patient, found that his room was
> occupied by another patient!) Many young doctors on call at NHS hospitals
> are now having to sleep in their own cars because their bedrooms are so
> disgusting.
