How Can We Do Better

            I’m feeling a sense of gratitude today – gratitude for those who provide all the various kinds of medical service – gratitude that I am able to access quality medical service.  I’m also feeling a sense of sadness that all are not so fortunate to be able to access the kind of medical care that gives both comfort and guidance.

            I spent Tuesday morning in the ER at Virginia Hospital Center.  I’d been feeling some moments of dizziness – vertigo.  Those who have experienced this rather common ailment for women over 50, know what I mean.  Because this condition could be indicative of something more serious, I had it checked out.  I was able to have all the tests and C-Scans necessary to say that what I had was a benign positional vertigo.

            But as I was there in the ER resting between tests, I thought about those who cannot get the expensive tests I was getting – those who would be charged huge fees for even the use of an emergency room.  I thought about those in our congregation that are receiving state of the art sophisticated medical care and who would not go bankrupt to pay the bills.  I thought about how we as a family have always had the medical insurance as part of our pay package that meant we have never had to worry – about the cost of insurance and about the cost of care.

            We as a country need to do better than this.  It seems to me that the right to heath and health care is a basic right that we should all enjoy.

            Much of Jesus’ ministry was caring for the sick, healing the leper, making people whole in mind, body, and spirit.  He didn’t ask for money.  The cost did not get in the way of healing.

            So, our ethical question for the week is – how can we do better?  If you come up with some answers, communicate them to your legislators.

Rev. Clara