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   radio free fedi (radiofreefedi@musician.social)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jul-2023 21:12:29 JST radio free fedi

   in reply to

   • Jason Didner
   • Dan Drake 🦆

   @ddrake @jasondidner the fediverse works in mysterious ways....

   • Embed this notice
     Dan Drake 🦆 (ddrake@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jul-2023 21:12:30 JST Dan Drake 🦆

     • Jason Didner

     Doctors are Luddites -- and that's a good thing!

     The Luddites of 19th century Britain weren't anti-technology, which is the common perception nowadays -- they destroyed machines not because they didn't like them, but as a form of protest; what they *really* were after was better working conditions, and a more fair share in the gains from those machines. See the wikipedia entry, or, say, https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/.

     We have the exact same dynamic today. But it's not about weaving machines -- it's about health care.

     From "The Moral Crisis of America's Doctors", https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/magazine/doctors-moral-crises.html?unlocked_article_code=3YpybyefNeIJ9DwcyMHlxJ0p0_fSriTR7mc6FjnMb_YTHEGoRgF8JDa8l1lxizqy3iEYhuzAkLggKmgaxgwrb1l7O8us6kRYhT2j79zgQSgBN-I-5c33iEYj0JDLzxY5ANa84idHjTOvxpcLgm-X_1225G22mWR8QdtiVaZBLsNo42OTFpiZh_lrZkWDPxqZxOmeyxkmgtg27j7RhhDemEDXuLY9JJUzcU-0ZAozB-mKRZ6qx6h7oLCuLcF3d748p6J10cceFZZjcv27WtYPEOIWHquFRU2tFYHbPaNPP6WA_hJO9EFtbH_wcZ-a89Tas5or8mDvFmIQ7b57F7umGQ&smid=url-share

     "In the past, one privilege conferred on physicians who made these sacrifices was the freedom to control their working conditions in independent practices. But today, 70 percent of doctors work as salaried employees of large hospital systems or corporate entities, taking orders from administrators and executives who do not always share their values or priorities."

     It's the exact same dynamic. Doctors are no more opposed to fancy health care tech than the weavers were opposed to fancy weaving tech; they just want to have a fair say in their working conditions, and want the power to put their patients' interests first.

     (Consider the story from the article of the doctor who had dying patient whose family could not be there. She stayed with him and held his hand as he died. Do you want a health care system where doctors can't do that?)

     ...and, holy coincidence, Batman: as I write this, at this very moment, I'm listening to @radiofreefedi and the song is "Trapped in a Patient Portal" by @jasondidner...!!