Medical Progress, R.I.P.

I just finished up assisting in a surgical excision of cancerous bone growth, in a child, no less, a child who will likely go on to live a full and wonderful life. The range of possibilities available to us for the treatment of cancer is a testament to the miracle of the free market. Seriously, you should see our radiation therapy facilities - fricking Star Wars. Last I checked, virtually none of our methods were developed by the British National Health Service. Pretty much entirely products of the American free market in medicine (R.I.P.).

I am proud to work at OHSU, one of the premier medical centers in the world. Amongst our many remarkable facilities is the "OHSU Knight Cancer Research Center". That's Knight, as in Phil Knight, of Nike. It's called that because in 2008 Mr. Knight donated $100 MILLION dollars to the OHSU Cancer Research Center to massively expand it's facilities. This monumental act of charity, coupled with the incredible folks I am honored to work with every day, will be nothing short of a miracle to countless more kids, for years to come. The world will literally be a better place because of them. Mr. Knight's philanthropy is in the tradition of other great capitalists such as Andrew Carnegie, and is a testament to the sorts of mature, community oriented individuals which a free society can produce. Michael Moore, by comparison, is a worthless piece of garbage, whose existence will have been to the benefit of no one but his financial investors, and it's high time he high-tailed it to Cuba, Venezuela, or Russia - but I digress...

Individuals like Phil Knight, combined with the innovations and motivations inherent to the free market, have born more fruits than all of the worlds "national health care systems" combined; that the credit seems to unerringly fail to fall where it is due is sickening.

The free market saves lives. If medical care had been turned over to the government 100 years ago, we'd still be using leeches and tinctures.