Moore and Gupta : Look at the Big Picture

Recently in the past few weeks the attention is not being paid as much on the healthcare crisis,as it is on those who have an opinion on it. Michael Moore's cutting edge documentary "Sicko" has stirred the passions of many people trying to fix the state of healthcare in the United States, but now if you search healthcare crisis on you tube or online blogs you are more likely to find postings about the debate between Michael Moore and CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta. Dr. Gupta comes from a scientific background while Micahel Moore comes from a 'crusader for the masses' point of view. This all clashed when recently a report by Dr. Gupta highlighted some statistical figures in Moore's film that did not seemed to be in line with mainstream ideas of the current state of healthcare. Although the issue did create conflict on TV and a great water cooler discussion the next day, it seems like people have forgotten the big issue. Countless blogs are demonizing Gupta as a physician who is supporting the satus quo to appease corporations and likewise Moore being depicted a socialist who is completely out of touch of today's society. I as a medical student who is attending medical school in Europe, I feel also that there are certain things that we can learn from other industrialized nations, but also I believe that there is no silver bullet to solve he healthcare crisis. It takes a team which is both passionate and cautious to tackle such a problem like this one. instead of demonizing Gupta and Moore , we should recognize how they are both the ingredients of a perfect team. Moore has the passion and drive to solve issues and Gupta has the scientfic state of mind which looks at facts through strict standards before jumping to solutions. It is akin to the stem cell debate in that the passionate may say push hard for stem cell research becuase they believe that is the answer, while scientists are quick to caution that stem cells are not the "magic cure" to solve all diseases. Big problems are solved by people who are passionate and motivated along with those who are realistic and analytical. I beleve that the media and the society at large should set aside their harsh criticisms of Gupta, Moore and instead focus on the synergy of the both Moore's passion and Gupta's analytical views. Afterall, throughout this debate both Moore and Gupta agreed that the problem exists and both want to address it, the only differences are in their approach to attack the problem. As I speak to other medical students, we all believe that healthcare has to be addressed and it is essential that although partisan politics and different viewpoints will exist that we learn to synergise them so that the sum of the whole is greater than the parts.