Sun, Aug 26, 2001 page8

• Letters:

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  Doctors not all bad

  I do not want to create a feud between doctors and lawyers, but I think that a sweeping statement that suggests Taiwanese doctors' "prime motive is greed" is unfair (Brian Kennedy, "An Rx for Taiwan's medical profession," Aug. 21, page 8).

  I am a psychiatrist from the University of the Philippines, who gave up a flourishing practice to be with my husband, also a doctor, and raise our family in Taiwan. My husband is very compassionate, tries to take the time to explain everything to patients and relatives and gets rather depressed when the patient is not improving despite his best efforts. He doesn't even look at his paycheck, leaving financial matters to me.

  My husband came to Taiwan from the Philippines so that he could practice medicine, as his father wanted him to take care of the family business. My father-in-law felt that there was no money in medicine and that business was more lucrative. It is true that some doctors might be in it for the money and the prestige, but I also see a lot of doctors, such as my husband and his colleagues, who care very deeply for their patients.

  For those who have not undergone the training, studying and sleepless nights doctors endure, it might look as though doctors have it all.

  But we also have to go through a lot before we earn our medical degrees.

  It is true that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had to go to Japan for his surgery. It doesn't mean that Taiwan is inferior to Japan in terms of doctors. It just happens that the former president prefers a certain doctor. Sometimes, it's not a matter of skill, but more a patient's preference.

  I would suggest that medical schools should put more emphasis on bedside manner and empathy for patients. Clinical work should emphasize this, and it's best to begin early when students are just starting medical school.

  Such training should be handled by a competent and compassionate practitioner (someone who is not busy with patients). Maybe we could get retired doctors, or non-practicing ones, who know medicine to teach students that there is more to medicine than just getting the correct diagnosis and giving the right treatment.

  Rosario Lim, MD

  Taipei

  Go after `tobacco's fat cats'

  H.L. Mencken once said: "To every complex problem, there's a simple solution and it's always wrong." Blaming all the evils of Taiwan's health care system on our doctors is simply a step in the wrong direction.

  Despite former president Lee's decision to travel to Japan for his operation, many of my patients who are senior citizens, including my own grandfather, believe that comprehensive health insurance is the best thing the government has done for its people.

  In contrast, one out of every seven people in the US does not have health insurance.

  In the US, frivolous lawsuits require doctors to perform thousands of additional tests and procedures in order to "protect" themselves from lawyers, driving up the price of health care. As a result, many people cannot afford health insurance, and those without insurance have to wait for hours and sometimes days to be seen at a county hospital.

  Nevertheless, I still believe that lawyers still have a place in our health care crisis. For example, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in the US and Taiwan. Lung cancer has replaced breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among American women in recent years, and a recent study found that one out of every three Chinese men will die from a smoking-related death.

  In the US, a flurry of anti-smoking campaigns has removed cigarette ads from magazines, newspapers and billboards. The campaign is partially driven by many of the billion-dollar lawsuits pending against tobacco companies, including Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes.

  Philip Morris, however, has simply moved its operations overseas, including its recent construction of a US$300 million cigarette factory in the Philippines. It has been accused of targeting its Marlboro products toward Asian women. Meanwhile, the US government looks the other way.

  Reducing smoking-related deaths in Taiwan would translate into the biggest cost reduction in our health care system. Perhaps Taiwanese lawyers, along with their enthusiastic American counterparts like Brian Kennedy, can help us go after big tobacco's fat cats and save some Taiwanese lives.

  Kenny Liu, MD

  Hualien
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