Torchwood

I've been watching this new season of Torchwood. It's amazing. There are so many medical ethical issues that are being raised.

In a nut shell, people live forever so there are not enough resources to keep everyone in hospital. The sick are sent to what are essentially concentration camps. They are treated like things rather than human beings. It is a bit reminiscent of how we treat demented patients. They don't have rights and are spoken over rather than to.

Doctors' responsibilities are focused on dealing with placement of these "dead but not dead" patients.

I spent a large part of today's weekend rounds on politics. Moving patients between areas of the hospital, planning resources for patients to go to when they leave and continue to manage the health of patients who will never leave hospital. We sometimes find ourselves discussing the futility of certain treatments, choosing the course of treatment that is most cost effective. While we always consider what is best for the patient and act accordingly, it often feels that our conversations are centered on economics and politics rather than medicine.

According to the CanMeds roles, resource allocation is an important part of being a doc but it truly is my least favorite part.

I found myself today longing to just figure out a medical problem and make my patients healthier.


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