E-mail Forwards: Sometimes a Little Virus is a Good Thing

The constant arrival of E-mail "forwards" can get tiresome after awhile. Some are worth reading, but a large number are simply boring, contrived, and well, goofy. But not all of them.
I received the one copied below the other day. It may or may not be a real letter from a real doctor to the President. In my mind it's irrelevant. It certainly reflects reality in our society.

One of the most widely read essays I have written for this blog (Oct. 2009) was titled "The Best Place To Be Poor."   The subject of that piece is very similar to the email in reference and I think it is a topic worth revisiting. To this day the site receives many visits from people all over the world who have "googled" that phrase. I suspect that they don't find the result they are seeking from that inquiry. They read it anyway. I can only hope it gives them a different perspective than they had before.

In that post I included a link to an article written by a doctor named Linda Halderman. I strongly suggest that you read it again even if you already have done so in the past. It can be found here.

The content of the forwarded email is as follows;

Dear Mr. President:
   During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.  While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.
   And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. 
  It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me".
   Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.
Respectfully,
STARNER JONES, MD

The good doctor (real or conjured from someones imagination) makes a point that truly IS worth forwarding. I won't mind if you forward a link to this article so that more people from all over the world will be reminded of the long term consequences caused by well meaning "solutions" imposed by government interference in societal problems.

Sometimes forwards like this "go viral" on the internet. (The best my articles have ever gone is bacterial.) In this case, maybe the doctor's letter will cause a virus that is beneficial. The current situation is deadly.