Just Watched The 1997 Movie - Critical Care - On Cable This Morning........

[global1]

I guess the movie bombed back in 1997 - but if you watch it today in context with the Health Care Reform debate - it really brings home the point as to how screwed up our system is. If you get a chance to catch it - I think it is well worth the time.

Shows the sinister side of hospitals, insurance companies, lawyers, family and docs.

Pushes the envelope a bit to make the point - but a good primer to our current debate.

[Warpy]

1. There was a film in 1971 called "The Hospital"

that showed an overwhelmed urban hospital with an ER packed with people who should have been able to get in to see a GP even that long ago. A lot of the film is seriously dated, but I can't watch it without thinking of the ERs I have worked in over the years. It's worth the rental just to see how long the medical neglect of poor and working people has been going on, along with the problems that go along with understaffing and burnout.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hospital

The problems with our system are far from new, which is why every single president except the last three GOPs have wanted to do something about it.

The problem has always been a bought off Congress.

[TNDemo]

2. Great movie!

Loved it.

[global1]

3. The 1969 Documentary By Frederick Wiseman Called The Hospital......

is a great film to watch to really get a feel for what goes on in a hospital. Wiseman's technique for filming this was to go into the 'hospital' and blend into the mix and be there for such a long time - so to be able to get real vignette's of real situations of what a patient and health care professional experiences on a day to day basis inside a hospital. I believe it was filmed in NYC's Metropolitan Hospital.

It is a great film to watch to understand the plight of both the patient and the health professional. To understand communication. To understand empathy. To understand human interaction.

Done in 'black & white' - it is not a pretty film - but it serves to deliver an important message.

Frederick Wiseman was the Michael Moore of his time.

Though if you watch this film today - it seems dated based on the technologies - if you view it in the context of human interactions - it is a powerful film.

The George C. Scott hollywood movie was ok but it was a hollywood portrayal of a hospital. This Wiseman documentary is real life.

Every once and a while PBS runs this film. I watch it every chance I can - and each time I see it I learn.

As this documentary ends - Wiseman slowly fades from the inside of the hospital to the outside and pulls back past a highway with cars going by. Every time I see this ending it screams to me that the hospital is a microcosm of our society that most people don't have a clue as to what happens or goes on there - and as you see the cars roll by on the highway - you realize that life goes on.