Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains Essay

Dr. Farmer understood that their horrid living conditions would have to change in order for his patients to heal. Dr. Farmer knew that Haiti itself would be unable to make this transition, which is why relying on the wealth, generosity and action from others around the world, to provide adequate necessities for the Haitians became such an important task. When his patients were given a better quality of life, they began to maintain health. For most Americans, we would be unable to fathom the undesirable living conditions, but at the same time understand why diseases run rampant in such an awful economic environment. Without the interdependence of the wealthy around the world and humanitarian belief that we are all human and deserve to be treated with equality, compassion and love, Dr. Farmer may not have been able to succeed as well as he did in Haiti. Kidder (2003) states “You want to see where Christ crucified abides today? Go to where the poor are suffering and fighting back, and that’s where he is (pg. 79).”

The suffering and misery of the poor and destitute has long been reported on and documented by writers all over the world. The circumstances and stories of the less fortunate are accounted by authors who sometimes distance themselves from the people they write about. However, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder focuses on the work of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who works tirelessly to comfort the sick and dying in the poorest countries in the world. Instead of being a simple biography about a wonderful man, Kidder weaves his own message of human rights into the book. Kidder successfully conveys his message that universal healthcare is a right a not a privilege through the words and

Chapter 2 focuses on problems in health care such as access, cost, quality, and what some believe to lead to health issues. “The World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being” (p27). Many argue that “the study of social problems is, essentially, the study of health problems, as each social problem affects the physical, mental, and social well-being of humans and the social groups of which they are a part” (p27).

A sensitive topic in the United States today revolves around the issue of healthcare. Is health care a basic human right or is it just a privilege to those who are able to afford it? Health care in the United States is in desperate need of reform. The Affordable Care Act takes that stance that health care is in fact a basic human right and that everyone should have health insurance. When the term “basic human rights” is used, most people think of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This doesn’t necessarily mean that people should be forced to sustain others’ lives, or that they have the responsibility to make others happy because they have a “right” to pursue happiness. You are born with these basics rights that no

The healthcare system has come under heavy criticism from experts from all over the world. According to Schroder, 44% of the population has no access to the healthcare system. (Schroder, 2003) There are many clinics which charge are free of cost or are charging lesser fees, but all of these are burdened and do not have the capability to meet the requirements. There are certain ethnic communities that are by enlarge poor who are of the opinion that they have been deliberately been left out of the healthcare system. These have led to the

Ehrenreich, disoriented and maddened by her rash, turned to her healthcare provider from her original life, managing to obtain medications that relieved her condition. If she did not have that back up resource to tap into, she would be probably be in much more discomfort. Despite how proud most Americans are of the Declaration of Independence and its well-known “unalienable rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”, the United States is one of the only major countries that does not guarantee healthcare to the people as a right of citizenship. Americans pay more than enough taxes for universal single-payer healthcare, but we are far from enjoying reliable coverage (Woolhandler 2002). The healthcare system in the United States is complex and fundamentally broken. But various groups of politicians, industries, parties, and people are distracted with pointing to specific targets: the federal government, state governments, public and private hospitals, insurance providers, pharmaceutical and medical equipment providers, doctors and nurses, and the legal system. All these agents have a role in causing this healthcare beast we have now, and it is unlikely that they can ever work together to solve the issues. For the poor, it means that they cannot afford much healthcare. Injuries have to be “walked off” and an emergency room visit is an impossible expense. Although Medicare has reduced the burden somewhat, the poor still receive sub-par healthcare compared to the rest of society. Chronic pain has to be “managed by Excedrin and Advil, compensated for with cigarettes and, in one or two cases and then only on weekends, with booze” (Ehrenreich 82). The poor is often criticized for substance abuse, be it drugs, alcohol, or more nefarious stimulants. However, Ehrenreich makes it clear that these are necessary to dull the pain acquired from their work. For many of these low-wage

8. Do you have sympathy or empathy for the wife of Don Elias, Dona Matilde?

Health and social justice have continued to be a major problem that affects the way people live and chance of illness, and consequent risk of premature death. The recent report from the World Health Organization shows that health disparities have continued to persist within and among countries and different regions of the world. For example, infectious diseases and undernutrition are common in poor and developing countries (WHO, 2018). The gap is even much worse between the rural and urban dwellers because of the economic differences and availability of healthcare services. Although some of the developed nations have attempted

The philosophy relayed by the book’s author consistently leads back to the moral question that must be asked in the initial design of the healthcare system. That determination has to do as to whether the government has a duty to act when there are those within their own country do not have equitable access to hospitals and doctors for the treatment of their conditions.14

“Sick Around the World”The reform about the healthcare system in the US has been debated within the government and the public for years. The need for change in the healthcare system echoed since the legislation of Medicare and Medicaid were created. US presidents have tried to push for a universal healthcare system because of its citizen’s outcry for better, quality care, for all. Surprisingly other countries have studied the US health system and reared away from its market based structure to more of a government based structure. In watching the documentary titled “Sick Around the World” I find it ironic that the most powerful rich country in the world ranks 37th when it comes to healthcare for its citizens. As a citizen of the US, I

Also, many of the case studies conducted in the Three City Study show that the poor will only seek medical care for their children or themselves only when inoculations are required or need of care is visibly apparent (Angel 28). This results in very little preventive care and education, two key components for an efficient health care system. The United States currently spends nearly $100 billion per year to provide uninsured residents with health services, often for preventable diseases or diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis (NCHC). The lack of preventative care will most likely be a larger financial burden on the poor later in life and further exhaust healthcare resources. Thus, the current health care safety net provides discontinuous care that essentially allows poor adults no health care, complicates the lives of poor with stringent requirements and protocol, and forces difficult choices upon adults regarding who in the family has the priority of care.

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is a biography written in 2003 about a benevolent Haitian doctor named Paul Farmer. In the first person point of view of Kidder, Kidder writes about Farmer’s beliefs, goals, and life events that relate to his work in Haiti. Even though Farmer, along with many other characters in Mountains Beyond Mountains, is clearly an optimistic person, Kidder struggled with seeing the hope and reason behind trying so hard to solve things that seemed obviously impossible to him. As a result, the constant interactions between pessimistic people and positive people, combined with the pessimistic character eventually becoming positive, shows that Kidder uses juxtaposition to prove that, to a very high extent, Kidder constantly reflects upon the

The residents of Africa are suffering from preventable, treatable, and fatal diseases everyday at a higher rate compared to developed countries. The healthcare crisis in Africa is the primary cause of all these deaths, and includes inefficient healthcare systems. Consequently, African's inefficient healthcare systems results in poor delivery of care and a shortage of health professionals. The healthcare crisis in Africa is a current issue impacting the lives of many African's who don't have the same access to resources as developed countries such as the United States. These resources can save the lives of many African's dying of preventable and curable disease, and understanding why the African continent has little access to them

Mountains Beyond Mountains is a book that narrates the story of Paul Framer, a physician who wanted to cure the world from infectious diseases, but his vocation was especially centered in helping the poor communities who were unable to get health assistance because of their economic status. Throughout this story, we observe that there are numerous countries that suffer the severe consequences that come with infectious diseases, as is the case of tuberculosis. But, these consequences are often given by the socioeconomic status of the individual. For instance, if a person is rich, he/she can have access to medical care as well as the treatment that the disease needs to be cured, but if on the contrary, it is a poor individual chances are that

My passion for global health stems from my experiences as a child. Growing up as a child of Mexican immigrants to the United States, I had the opportunity to visit family members in southern Mexico every few years. While I savored reconnecting with relatives, my awareness of inequalities bolstered with each visit. My relatives live in rural areas where economic adversity is persistent and access to quality healthcare is sparse. Contrasting my relatives’ experiences and opportunities with my own exemplified to me how one’s life is shaped by economic conditions, healthcare access, education systems, and one’s birthplace.