Doctors Disappearing

A couple of stories on doctors shrugging (as Instapundit puts it); NY Times and LA Times. I hastily penned the following LTE in response to the latter:

Yesterday’s story (Primary Care Doctors Struggling to Survive) is the tragic—but predictable— consequence of the immoral idea that health care is somehow a “right”.

Instead of respecting legitimate rights, viz. those of doctor’s to engage in their trade on their own terms, including deciding who they’ll see, how much they’ll charge and what form of payment they’ll accept; today’s quasi-socialized health care system makes doctors the virtual servants of anyone with an ailment, real or imagined. Paid and treated as servants, primary care doctors are understandably leaving the profession in droves.

If we truly value them and the life-giving service they provide, we must halt our headlong plunge down the road of socialization, and instead act to restore individual rights in the field of medicine.

HT for the NY times article to the New Clarion