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nancy knox-bierman's avatar

I was a respiratory therapist in the 80's, when ECMO was arriving on the scene. We thought it was the answer to many, cardio-pulmonary diseases and it bypasses injured lungs, to perfuse the cells and keep the body from deterioration while the lungs heal. Then came DRG's, HMOs, insurance groups, etc. I left the field in 1990 and could already see the writing on the wall. Health "care" had become a health business with ill patients being necessary commodities for growth. Curing was no longer the goal. Maintenance was, as it was much more lucrative.

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