In class/homework: "Escape Fire"

Date assigned

Wednesday, February 27

Assignment

Watch the film "Escape Fire" in class.  (If you missed it in class, it's going to be on CNN on March 10.)  In at least 1.5 pages typed (2 pages if handwritten) answer the following questions:

1) Summarize the issues that the filmmakers view as problematic in the American healthcare system:

• Overmedication

• Overtreatment

• Doctors paid on the fee-for-service model

• Disease management (Shannon Brownlee quote - "We have a very profitable disease-care system... it doesn't want you to die and it doesn't want you to get well.  It just wants you to keep coming back.")

• Medicine as a business (Steven Nissen quote - "When medicine became a business we lost our moral compass.")

• Others

2) Summarize the solutions that the filmmakers argue are needed to fix the problems in the American healthcare system.

• Treating the whole person

• Changing what we teach in medical school

• Behaviors (Roy Litten quote - "I eat the regular food...eggs, sausage, grits, bacon.")

• Rewarding behavior (Safeway CEO Steve Burd quote - "Behavior becomes a form of currency for people to accomplish their lifestyle changes.")

• Others

3) Why is the film called Escape Fire?  Why do you think the filmmakers chose that metaphor as their central theme?

4) Why is healthcare such a politically-charged issue?  Why do you think it's so hard for Congress to come to a consensus about healthcare?  Is there any hope that Democrats and Republicans can work together to do what's best for sick Americans?

5) What can the civilian healthcare system learn from the innovations of the American military?

6) How could the American government invest in schools to improve the future health of our nation's citizenry and cut down on future healthcare expenditures?

Due date

Wednesday, March 6