The personal journal of Dr. Pieter Anton Cross:
Health care in this country is an abomination. Yes, this is a recurring theme of mine, but it cannot be said enough. The pharmaceutical industry has completely bought off the United States government and controls all the research, shaping it to their whims. Small-minded professional physicians care more about their BMWs than they do about critically thinking about the drugs they're passing onto patients, and the drug companies are lining their pockets to make sure they don't start questioning things. I have no patience for it, and while I'm thankful to work outside of it, it saddens me every day it decays even further.
This rant is only tangentially related to the events of this evening, but it was brought up this time by a visit to Auntie Scum's soup kitchen, and the resulting chaos that ensued when a homeless man (I will NOT call them 'transients' as the developers would have me do, for it's too clinical and soulless a word to describe a human being in a state of absolute desperation) went into cardiac arrest after a sudden, startling power outage. I was the only one that could see him to tend to him. I called the paramedics, but eventually I managed to assuage the condition with a mix of highly specialized acupunture and a very particular methodology of massage therapy I've been developing for just such a purpose. Mr. McMonegle was back on his feet and finishing his dinner in thirty minutes.
The paramedics did not arrive for a full hour after I called them.
Portsmouth City is NOT that big a location, and it was late enough in the day that the traffic could not have been the reason for the delay. Their contemptuous attitude gave me all the information I needed to understand what had happened. They just don't GO to that section of town. What a crime it is to be poor and without insurance in this nation - not even worthy of basic human dignity. How far have we fallen that health care is only for the wealthy?
...
I've filled pages with this talk already. I've published essays on these topics before the frame-up ruined my career, and been rewarded handsomely with faint praise and false promises of change.
The sole positive aspect to this is that I have an outlet for this frustration, and there is a ridiculous attempt at a protection racket emerging lately that needs to be beaten back severely before they start to believe that their idea was wise.
...
I also must stop thinking about Dinah. And I must stop foolishly resenting Oliver Queen for being a walking medical miracle - a dead man returned to life. Something most everyone in my field would applaud, proving the impossible to be possible after all.
More the fool I am, selfishly frustrated that a friend has cheated death to take his true love out of my arms. This is not sensible, this is not wisdom... but the human heart remains an enigma.
The moon is full tonight. My life, however, remains empty.
The clock strikes twelve. Time to punch in.
This rant is only tangentially related to the events of this evening, but it was brought up this time by a visit to Auntie Scum's soup kitchen, and the resulting chaos that ensued when a homeless man (I will NOT call them 'transients' as the developers would have me do, for it's too clinical and soulless a word to describe a human being in a state of absolute desperation) went into cardiac arrest after a sudden, startling power outage. I was the only one that could see him to tend to him. I called the paramedics, but eventually I managed to assuage the condition with a mix of highly specialized acupunture and a very particular methodology of massage therapy I've been developing for just such a purpose. Mr. McMonegle was back on his feet and finishing his dinner in thirty minutes.
The paramedics did not arrive for a full hour after I called them.
Portsmouth City is NOT that big a location, and it was late enough in the day that the traffic could not have been the reason for the delay. Their contemptuous attitude gave me all the information I needed to understand what had happened. They just don't GO to that section of town. What a crime it is to be poor and without insurance in this nation - not even worthy of basic human dignity. How far have we fallen that health care is only for the wealthy?
...
I've filled pages with this talk already. I've published essays on these topics before the frame-up ruined my career, and been rewarded handsomely with faint praise and false promises of change.
The sole positive aspect to this is that I have an outlet for this frustration, and there is a ridiculous attempt at a protection racket emerging lately that needs to be beaten back severely before they start to believe that their idea was wise.
...
I also must stop thinking about Dinah. And I must stop foolishly resenting Oliver Queen for being a walking medical miracle - a dead man returned to life. Something most everyone in my field would applaud, proving the impossible to be possible after all.
More the fool I am, selfishly frustrated that a friend has cheated death to take his true love out of my arms. This is not sensible, this is not wisdom... but the human heart remains an enigma.
The moon is full tonight. My life, however, remains empty.
The clock strikes twelve. Time to punch in.