The Collapse of Public Health

Dr. Ronald J. Glasser's essay in Harper's Magazine July 2004, "We Are Not Immune: Influenza, SARS, and the collapse of public health," gave me the chills and made me wish I didn't have to breath so often. The essay is not available on-line, but worth it to hunt down a paper copy or order a reprint from Harper's Online. He delves into the history of the collapse of public health in the US through neglect, budget cutbacks and just plain wishful thinking. SARS, he writes, hinted at the next disaster and the US health system is not even ready to prevent an influenza pandemic. Scariest quote - "We spend vast sums to lengthen the lives of terminally ill patients by a few days and refuse to make modest investments that would prevent millions of needless illnesses and deaths."