An aside

I realize that I am biased, being a primary care physician and all, but a recent article published in Emergency Medicine News really concerned me. As any physician (and most of the public) understands, the health care system is deeply flawed and needs significant repair. However, this author's perspective is NOT the way to go:

Dr. Glauser's Rant

As far as I can tell, this physician would like nothing more than to completely dismantle primary care because we're mostly inept and lazy, leaving all the hard work to ER physicians like himself.

I don't really see the author's point. Does he really feel his job would be easier if primary care was gone? Wouldn't his job be more meaningful and fulfilling if primary care was recognized by the health care system as being valuable and beneficial, and the only patients making it in to the ER were those who were REALLY sick?

From the larger view, does this author's attitude provide any opportunity to work together to make the system better?

Fortunately, there are strong counter arguments, many of which can be accessed here.

The system must be fixed, no doubt. But we need to work together as physicians and as a country to make it better. Perspectives like Dr. Glauser's will kill any effort to do so, and I hope that he will remain the angry, bitter minority.