Friends,
I have received hundreds of phone calls after Midnight throughout my career…..99% of those calls delivered bad news….either informing me of an individual with a disabling injury or a catastrophic injury in need of medical help. This morning at 12:01 the phone rang and it was our eldest daughter, Allison on the other end. “Mom & Dad, I just received an e-mail….I was just admitted to The University of Michigan Medical School. I am going to be a Doctor and be able to help people.”
I immediately was transported back to March 17, 1980….the day I received word I was admitted to Northwestern University Medical School. ( Editor’s Note: You will notice Allison was admitted 5 months earlier than her father…..she was a much better candidate to say the least ). After my Mom read to me my acceptance letter, my Dad came on the phone and congratulated me and then said,” Great job, it took a lot of perseverance, dedication and sacrifice to get into Medical School…..but this is just the beginning and NOT the end . You will need more of the above three qualities to graduate and then to make a POSITIVE difference in medicine. Before you go to bed tonight get on your knees and Thank God and Christ for this opportunity and for giving you the talents and abilities to be able to serve and help others.” This morning, Allison received the same talk…to the letter.
Many people on this list, over the years, have chastised me for my positions that I have taken in Medicine such as: advocating the empowerment of people rather than the empowerment of HMO’s, Insurance companies and of Big Government Bureaucrats, advocating HSA’s, advocating Prevention, advocating health care reform through a market driven approach and my analytical dissection of The Obama Health Care Plan which will DESSIMATE the health care delivery system in Our country and HARM every person and family in it’s path.
To all of the critics I respond : I took an oath 5 months after I received my acceptance letter to “Do No Harm”…. what I have tried to do, and I believe succeeded to do, is to live up to that oath and extend that oath ……To PREVENT HARM. In so doing I believe I have POSITIVELY impacted millions of people around the world and I will NOT stop. The young, dedicated and brilliant “young physicians”, such as Allison, will not have a chance to make a positive impact on society and the world if The Obama Health Care Plan comes to fruition. Their hands will be tied, their mouths will be gagged and they will be shackled to a system that is based on rationing and denying care….the most inhumane and unethical means of cutting costs. I will do my best to educate the masses in PREVENTING this oppressive legislation from advancing. To the critics…..you will lose this battle and this war……I have just gained an enormous ally in medicine and in three years ….I will gain another ally…..Allison’s sister Katie.
In 2009 the way you are informed you have “made the cut” for medical school does not come in a letter but in an e-mail link……it is very cool and much better than a letter…..take a look. ( give it a little time to load on your computer….it is worth the wait.)
www.med.umich.edu/medschool/midnight Warm Regards,
Dave Janda