A Matter of Health

Doctoring a nation

By Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H.

Political leaders of the nation and the state of Texas gathered in Washington, D.C., last month to give Michael Ellis DeBakey, M.D., chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine, the Congressional Gold Medal he so well deserved.

The reasons for giving him the medal are obvious. He pioneered the art of vascular surgery. He developed the first partial artificial heart and implanted it in a patient for the first time successfully. His medical statesmanship launched the U.S. national biomedical research enterprise that now leads the world. He helped set up the nationwide network of Veterans Affairs medical centers, and the one in Houston is named in his honor. His educational efforts have drawn many into medicine, and the high school in Houston that is named for him is among the best in the nation.

The solution to one area of medical care has, however, eluded him – making healthcare available in a cost-effective and quality way. Although he was a supporter of Medicare in the days it was first proposed by President Kennedy, he has been unsatisfied with the results.

That is why, in addition, to thanking Congress and the President for the honor of the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor the Congress can bestow, he took the bully pulpit to suggest one way that the problems of the nation's uninsured could be addressed.

"I know that you have been working on this for many, many years," he said. "But there is a model you should look at that I'm thoroughly familiar with because when I was in the military, I was assigned by the Surgeon General to the committee that (Gen. Omar) Bradley and (Rear Admiral Jean Hodgkin) Hawley worked on in fixing up the Veterans Administration. We made many suggested that resulted in a superb medical service."

The advantages of the VA system are many, he said. It provides quality medicine at half the cost of other agencies, both in and out of government.

"So there must be something about what they are doing that we could use to expand our program in health care for the needy," he said.

In other words, Congress might take a lesson from what it has done right already in crafting a proposal for taking care of the people who are without health care now.

He also congratulated Congress on building the biomedical research structure that has pushed U.S. medical care to the top.

"It is the envy of the world. I hope you will continue to give it the consideration you've given it so far," he said. Concerns about funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have dogged researchers in recent months. Medical statesman DeBakey, once again, made sure that those in Congress heard the message from him.

It would have been easy for DeBakey to have just said thank you. However, as many at the podium that day said, he is first and foremost a doctor. And in addressing these concerns, he spread his care to the nation as a whole.

To see full coverage of the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, please go to http://www.bcm.edu/news/features/item.cfm?newsID=1111.