One of my all-time favorite movies is Field of Dreams. The mixture of reality and fantasy is overwhelmingly artistic as we root for “Ray and his baseball field built in a cornfield.” One of the best scenes in the film is when Ray's daughter falls from the stands on the field and lies motionless on the ground below.
Doc, played by superstar Burt Lancaster, is on the field as a ball player when he hears cries for help and goes to rescue a child. As he crossed the first base foul line, he transformed from a young player to an elderly doctor carrying a medical bag. Of course, he saves the girl's life and the movie continues, but he cannot return to his place. He must give up the chance to remain as a young baseball player and remain an elderly doctor. When Kevin Costner's character apologizes, he is assured that he will be fine and that being a doctor was his calling.
Watching this part of the movie fills me with nostalgia for a variety of reasons. But most of all, it's the little black bag the doctor is carrying. If you're old enough to remember a rare situation called a doctor's “house call,” you'll instantly recognize that bag. When we were young, it wasn't uncommon for doctors to come to our house when we needed them, and we always carried that bag with us. The entire nostalgic moment of this movie reflects behavior from a long time ago, like the dodo bird. Extinct.
What concerns me most is that treatment then takes a backseat to the almighty dollar. I was reading a story about a doctor who was fed up with not accepting pediatric cases at the hospital where he worked in order to free up beds for more profitable adult cases. Really? she quit.
When watching Grey's Anatomy, this “show arc” has been front and center for some time. Life imitating art increasingly shows that decisions are driven by money, not necessarily the best care for the patient. So sad, but so true.
Unfortunately, when it comes to caring for people with very high medical needs, such as those with diabetes, the saddest thing is that we have reached the point that Lancaster reached in the film and there is no going back.
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Tags: Diabetes, Diabetic Dad, Diabetes Inspiration