Posted on 01/17/2023 5:03:37 AM PST by MtnClimber
Last week, my email inbox was flooded with headlines about a nursing strike taking place at two major NYC hospitals. E.g., from the New York Daily News, January 9:
Though the strike has since ended, my thought when I read the headlines was: Here is a legitimate concern: For years, there has been a looming shortage of healthcare workers, and of nurses specifically. The linked article has a list of statistics, such as: 4.7 million nurses are expected to retire by 2030; 55% of current registered nurses are over the age of 50.
It is possible, maybe even likely, that the nursing union might exaggerate claims of a looming staffing shortage in order to strengthen its negotiating positions. However, I maintain that we have enough social indicators from Gen Z and Millenials – that is, people in the 20-45 age range – to wonder what might happen if there comes a time when there are not enough people willing to work in industries that require difficult physical labor or emotional hardship. If there are insufficient incentives for people to do that work, then our problems with strikes and shortages are just beginning.
The Left frequently proclaims that “Healthcare is a Human Right!” But that statement assumes conditions in which healthcare can take place: the innovations, technology, and personnel to administer advanced medicine. Beyond requiring that healthcare be “fully funded” by the government, and insisting patients not bear financial responsibility for their treatment, Leftists seem to take for granted that there will always be enough people willing to dedicate their lives to the service of others, while ignoring the complex incentive structures at play.
Nursing is not just “a job,” in the normal sense. “Just a job” is what I had when I worked for a law firm as a campus recruiter. One memory stands out from that era of my life: there were a few months of the year, during the on-campus interviews, when we worked long hours and never seemed to have enough time to get everything done. One day as I was buzzing about my desk, frantically trying to get folders organized for candidates that were about to walk in the door for their interviews, a partner at the firm saw I was struggling. He came over to me to reassure me. “Just remember,” he said, “no one’s life is at stake here. Your mistakes don’t really matter.”
On the other hand, during the nursing strike last week, many patients at Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals did not receive necessary medical procedures. The Daily News quotes Veronica Santos, who took her father to the emergency room, saying that he had not received a CT scan for a heart ailment because there was no one to administer it. Healthcare can’t be a “human right” when there is no one there to administer it.
That’s the thing about nursing: it’s uniquely immediate and purposeful work. It requires a belief in the value of serving the community, and a willingness to be present for some of life’s ugliest and most difficult moments. As those currently working in the industry start to retire, Millennials and Gen Z have given little indication that they are interested in taking their place – quite the opposite.
Far from being “tough” or able to handle difficulty, young people are afraid of hearing words they don’t like. They want “safe spaces” and trigger warnings. They have been known to accuse people of “violence” and “trauma” for “misgendering” them. The Washington Free Beacon reported in September that during a mandatory training, Harvard told its students that “using the wrong pronouns constitutes abuse.” If words have become violence, what will younger generations make of the real thing?
Millennials and Gen Z are also the first generations to have grown up with the internet. In the case of Gen Z, they’ve been carrying the internet in their pocket since elementary school. The Hill reports that 1 in 4 Gen Z’ers “Plan to become social media influencers.” They have seen their peers make millions by simply making TikTok videos of themselves dancing in the mirror. If that’s an option, who would choose long hours on their feet during a hospital shift, arms deep in human fluids?
This sums up my lack of faith that rising generations will be called to nursing: first, that they are accustomed to having a screen between themselves and reality; second, that there are a plethora of options for them to work cushy laptop jobs that pay six figures and don’t require any physical or emotional labor. There’s no blood, and no screaming – unless it’s to accuse someone of racism.
To be clear, I can’t disparage my fellow Millennials or our juniors, Gen Z, in this at all. I am also to blame. I am a working mom and I work at home full-time. I swear, I am not one of the Sarah/Elizabeth bots that comment on my dad’s blog about making 120/hr for online work. But, I share their desire to pursue my dreams from the comfort of the couch, while saving my mental and emotional energy for my family.
But I too would say, adamantly, that the world needs nurses, and if they want more money or more support, they should have it. But ? that seems to underscore the basic flaw in the younger generation’s worldview: with the infinite supply of government money, we can summon up an infinite supply of other people to do the work. Meanwhile, we’ll keep our cushy laptop jobs.
It is one thing to see what needs to happen, quite another to incentivize people to do it – especially when the work requires a sacrifice on someone else’s part. Those incentives might require a cultural shift: a return to the values of community and service. In our current political environment, young people seem to think that claiming something as an entitlement means someone will inevitably show up to do the work. Perhaps if nobody does, younger generations will be forced to realize that if they want healthcare to be a human right, then they might have to abide by that old saying: if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.
Did you even read the article? She doesn’t say anything about forcing people. Quite the opposite.
A coplete privatization of public heapth care is in order.
Thats whats happening in Canada to provide health care in Ontario and New Brunswick where medicare is now supplemented by private clinics paid for by the government. Surgery too. Its the only way to get the necessary services.Socialism is being abandoned.
And the socialist left are caterwauling like they are having surgery without anesthesia, doctors should not be able to make big money , you see.....
If it is paid out of the tax base, you are forcing people to use their time abd resources for the benefit of another. That is inherent the moment you define healthcare as a right.
How else to make itba right?
What would be allowed, under the Constitution is for the government to produce neutral information to inform people how to care for themselves, but that is a state responsibility.
Not at all. Our society is collapsing into anarchy. That old cycle of governance is about to start over again.
A friend of mine was in the hospital last week for a medical procedure.
Here are his observations regarding his short stay.
1. Most of the nursing staff were young—in their 20’s and early 30’s’.
2. The nursing staff seemed to spend too much time looking at their smartphones.
3. There were no older nurses. He concluded that the older nurses had retired because they did not want to take the covid vaxx jab.
4. The nursing staff seemed to have a level of indifference regarding the care of patients in the pre-op room.
So regarding this author’s commentary, I would agree the younger medical staff will have less compassion.
I wanted to be an astronaunt when I was 5. Spoiler alert: it didn’t happen.
Maybe you should actually read what was written. The point this person is making is not that Healthcare is some kind of right, but that if people believe it it’s a right then someone needs to actually do the work. Whether it’s a right or a service there is going to be a greater demand for people in the healthcare industry coming up.
Healthcare isn’t a right. It is a service provided to one by another. To claim it is a right implies the enslavement of the provider.
Yes, one person’s rights are another person’s obligations. Politicians never say who is going to have to pay to give one person his “rights.”
The to biggest problems with our healthcare systems are (a) exorbitantly expensive and (b) too many healthcare dollars are going to people that are not paying for it through insurance, taxes or their own dollars.
That is a false right.
There is no right to manmade goods and services.
There is no right to enslave doctors.
I did read it. Somebody has to be compelled to provide a service and somebody else has to be compelled to spend their time and resources paying for it. The only way this can happen Constitutionally is to repeal the 13th Amendment.
There is something the government can do and that is to provide useful, but neutral information in a booklet that goes to.everybody’s house and it covers basic health care and self care. I don’t that violates the Constitution.
“It seems like it’s very hard to hold a medical professional responsible for a mistake today.”
depends on the color of your skin or your political affiliation.
2 EMS workers were just charged with murder last week!
Yes, healthcare is NOT a right. It’s a commodity.
I understand if the author knows why society used to have the values of community and service? It had a lot to do with the values of religion, Christianity in particular, being strong and the values of leftardism being weak and often scorned.
Amen
It’s a general flaw with the ideology of the left, demonstrating they don’t really think through their virtue signaling. You *can’t* have endless social welfare programs while reducing the population (to “save the planet”). You *can’t* have more people on “the take” than there is people propping them up. ...unless you think that “printing money” endlessly works, which it doesn’t. Even then, as the author points out, PEOPLE have to actually provide certain services - it’s not just about money.
I’ve had this very discussion with liberals. First, talk about what constitutes a “right”, starting with free speech - generally they’ll agree with what makes a “right” vs. a “privilege”. This usually becomes a consensus on “not requiring anything from somebody else”, that the “right” is something that should just be inherent/innate and the State has no business taking it from you (but don’t mention “God given”). Then you can ask, “so how is health care a ‘right’? ...it requires the time and money of others.”. Then you see their gears breaking. They’ve heard over and over that health care is a “right”, especially in countries like the UK and Canada - where they’re quick to point out the evil USA that “doesn’t care” for people without health insurance. All of a sudden, they can’t reconcile a “right” vs. what health care requires and they get stuck.
The realization that health care is not a right doesn’t sit well but it exposes a natural law - we all die. We all have health problems at some point. Modern medicine is an output of an advanced society that values science and has a culture to develop *both* the medicine and the *people* to apply it. There’s *nothing* innate about it being a “right”.
Medicine is particularly concerning too. The more we know the more treatments we can develop. The more medical options available the more it all costs. If you know nothing and can do nothing, for any given medical problem, it costs nothing. The reverse is also true. When there’s more specialized doctors, more prescriptions, more equipment, etc. which must have the costs shared, one way or another, among everyone it can only cost more. Considering the finite resources available to accomplish this, I can only see that either quantity or quality must suffer over time. There’s no economic way of sustaining endless quantity and quality of increasing capability without endless financial resources. Now do that with a shrinking population. It doesn’t add up. And the only solution many countries have is via “immigration” to increase their populations - except there’s only one population, the human race on planet Earth. We can’t all accomplish stabilization of populations through immigration. This all ignores that dangers of rapid immigration - where clash of cultures will only destabilize society, as their worldviews of what “good” means are very different (I’ll avoid digressing here).
Maybe this is an area where AI can be a real positive. Being able to diagnose, and possibly even treat people, may be a path to a sustainable future.
“looming shortage of healthcare workers, and of nurses specifically.”
Sorry, but that is simply not the whole story.
Every nursing program across the country is packed, with waiting lists to get it in. Don’t believe me? Call and ask.
NYS essentially fired their nurses with the COVID mandates.
They have also made old school 2 yr and licensed “RN’s” go back to get a Bachelors Degree or lose their job (10 yr rule). Remember, “RN” or “Registered Nurse” is just a Professinal License from the State, not a college degree. Pass the test, get your license.
Used to be, 2 yrs in an approved Nursing program and you could sit for the test. now you need the Bachelors in Nursing to qualify to sit to take the test.
Covid requirements, new rules to keep your job, crappy NYC working conditions, and a Dem Governor in place ready to give away the Farm created the opportunity for the Nurses Union Graft Strike.
I’m all for Industrial Unions (NOT government unions, even FDR didn’t want them). The recent legitimate Rail Strike threat was stangled in the crib by corrupt UniParty Dems.
But Nurses unions in Hospitals? Not the same thing.
Really? Consider just how much more complicated medicine is today than it was 50 years ago. Diagnostic machines that didn't exist then. treatments that didn't exist then. Monoclonal antibody medicines that are extremely expensive to produce, malpractice insurance that is spread over all healt cayr payers because of the glut of ambulance chasing lawyers, the list goes on and on. My father had a fatal heart attack almost 50 years ago at age 63. Today he would have been able to have been treated with clot buster, or emergency angioplasty - none of which existed 50 years ago, and all of which are expensive. You want modern medicine, be prepared to pay for it.
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