Charity Isn’t Change
Monday, July 12 2010
I wrote this post for Change.org, and my editor decided it was “not right for Change”. I still think it’s important, so I want to publish it here (with minimal edition).
Recently [Change.org] welcomed a post from Fran Drescher, asking readers to support her charity, Cancer Schmancer. I hope some lucky reader enjoyed a call from Ms. Drescher, but I hope most readers did not in fact donate.
I have no doubt that Cancer Schmancer is founded and run with the noblest of intentions. But the fact is, Cancer Schmancer – like hundreds of similar charities – will not get us one step closer to real health reform and universal health care.
I have written at length about this problem [here] – one post, Don’t Walk, is the most-read on that site. To recap briefly, as important as early detection and cures for diseases are, they are not a substitute for real, systemic reform. Imagine a woman whose cancer was detected early through Cancer Schmancer’s efforts: what if she can’t afford the expensive medicines necessary to treat that cancer. How is she better off for knowing sooner that she will die?
Or consider a man whose prostate cancer is detected early: arguably, he’s worse off. According to the National Cancer Institute, recent studies “suggest that many men were diagnosed with, and treated for, cancers that would not have been detected in their lifetime without screening and were consequently exposed to the potential harms of unnecessary treatments, such as surgery and radiation therapy”.
Early detection is not the key to fighting cancer. Neither is an expensive cure. What we need first and foremost is a health care system that takes care of all sick people. That’s why this blog is called “Health Care”, and not “Cures and Detection”.
And what’s most troubling about the many disease charities is that they stood on the sidelines for the most important health care struggle in a generation. Of the hundreds of charities out there, only a few joined significant coalitions like HCAN to work towards an equitable and effective health care system. Who, exactly, are they trying to help?
Charity is important. We should all consider the needy and unfortunate around us, and give accordingly. But charity isn’t change – and it’s certainly not justice.
(Photo credit: anniemole)
I understand where you are going with this. In my county they have a program for free mammograms and pap smears for patients who cannot afford them and do not have health insurance (or poor health insurance). The problem with the program is that if someone is diagnosed with one of those cancers, the program does not manage their treatment. All of sudden you have a patient being told, “You have cancer and need treatment. Our grant does not cover the treatment of the cancer, only the diagnosis of the cancer.” Now what? I have a patient with cancer and nowhere for them to go for treatment? The system needs fixing. These programs are like painting over the leak in your ceiling. It looks better but no one has really done anything.