Nicholas Comninellis

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Right Of Conscience – Angola Day 11

fundo-social

 

A time-tested right of conscience for healthcare professionals is the offering of free or discounted care to people in need. Prior the advent of managed care in the 1980s it was common for hospitals and healthcare professionals in the US to give such assistance on a case-by-case. But outside of an emergency department, today’s “modern” health plans prohibit such beneficence, rendering healthcare personnel impotent express compassion in this important way. Happily some, like Steve Collins – eye doctor here at Lubango Evangelical Medical Center, nevertheless employ his right of conscious to provide care regardless of payer status. This photo is the medical record of a patient blind from cataracts. Collins has written in Portuguese “Fundo Social,” indicating his patient of no means will receive sight-giving surgery regardless of ability to pay. All this moves me to tears.

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