I’ve been deeply upset about an article going around about the UHC shooter, which suggests Luigi Mangioni was radicalized by pain. The article gives no evidence, and makes no convincing argument. It expects you to look at the negative space: because Luigi “had options”, and “could have been almost anything he wanted to be”, you are expected to believe that he turned to murder because of pain. He had a degree and a “promising early employment history”, showing yet again how society believes the only valuable thing a person can do is grind for capitalism.
No, chronic pain doesn’t radicalize. Chronic pain gives you clarity. Chronic pain shows the world for what it truly is: a society that doesn’t care about you if you can’t hold a job, and paradoxically, believes that you are just fine if you can.
Bruh.
Chronic pain shows you that medicine, as a field, is based on statistics and bell curves. If you don’t land in the center of one of those bell curves, it doesn’t matter how much access you have to doctors and treatment, eventually everyone discharges you with a shrug and a sorry, if you are lucky.
I have, unfortunately, had experience with heart disease and cancer. On heart disease I lucked out and got a crazy surgeon who installed four stents. Every other (5) cardiologist I have spoken to (all supposedly top tier) has been surprised by that because they would have cracked me open and gone with a bypass.
On the cancer side, my first doctor’s plan would have left me broken for however long I had afterwards. So my wife researched and found the best money could buy and I came out the other side relatively normal.
The problem with medicine goes back to an old joke. What do you call the person who graduated medical school last on their class? Doctor. The worst, most careless, doctors will still cost an arm and a leg (sometimes literally), so money is not a fix. Ultimately you have to do exhaustive research and find your own care. Most people will have to rely on luck.
Bruh.
I have, unfortunately, had experience with heart disease and cancer. On heart disease I lucked out and got a crazy surgeon who installed four stents. Every other (5) cardiologist I have spoken to (all supposedly top tier) has been surprised by that because they would have cracked me open and gone with a bypass.
On the cancer side, my first doctor’s plan would have left me broken for however long I had afterwards. So my wife researched and found the best money could buy and I came out the other side relatively normal.
The problem with medicine goes back to an old joke. What do you call the person who graduated medical school last on their class? Doctor. The worst, most careless, doctors will still cost an arm and a leg (sometimes literally), so money is not a fix. Ultimately you have to do exhaustive research and find your own care. Most people will have to rely on luck.