Commitment to Charity Care

A change of pace and topic today....
For my school reunion this year, below is an article I wrote..

What is charity? Or more to the point, charity is not an act or activity that is carried on for the purposes of profit or gain. Thus, the whole essence of charity is beneficence and humanitarianism. Examples of Medical oriented charities are Doctors Beyond Borders, CareFlight Rescue, the Royal Flying Doctor Service just to name a few.
So what drives doctors to be unselfishly concerned for and devoted to the welfare of others? I can list several of the many reasons why people involved in Health Care service specifically, doctors automatically offer their time, talent and money to charitable and community services. Firstly, doctors are generally generous and gracious in nature. Whilst acquiring medical education, it is an accepted value for medical students to be generous with their time and efforts towards helping those in need. They are constantly exposed to patients who are indigent. And even before they make a decision to become a qualified medical practitioner, a person who signifies an interest in the medical field would be leaning to doing gracious actions or giving donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless. Also, doctors have a natural desire to leave a lasting positive and benevolent imprint on the community. Generally, workers in the health care industry have a desire to be a leader in one’s community and hence gain the feeling of satisfaction and value from helping others. Additionally, doctors and other workers in the health care industry have a burden to give back to the community that has provided support for them and in which they have earned their education, income or wealth.
And yet time pressure and fear of litigations might prevent doctors from doing what they innately do best. In a 2006 article from the Washington Post, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/22/AR2006032202052.html) it mentioned “Busy schedules, reduced reimbursement rates and high medical-school debt appear to be contributing to the problem.” But the article also highlighted what J. Edward Hill, then president of the American Medical Association, said “Physicians are still committed to charity care."
In the final analysis, we as doctors are the professional guardians of other-orientedness. Indeed, how can we not?