First allow me to introduce myself [this is my first post on The Issue blog, and I think it only appropriate]. My name is Stephen, I’m a Co-founder & editor of The Issue. I can always be reached directly at Stephen@TheIssue.com. I look forward to the creative process of writing, but mostly to the interaction with readers-so introduce yourself and comment at will.

If the purpose of this venue is to interact with our readers by [idealistically?] creating a human being with typed/read words, I’ll start with a confession…. I just watched an episode of ER. Few things are better than DVD on TV, but this guilty pleasure is particularly guilty - I mean, George Clooney threw in the towel years ago. After a particularly nail-biting and seat-edge inducing episode in which myriad medical miracles saved daughters, mothers and grandmothers, I started thinking about how pop culture [and the glorification of medicine therein] defines our perceptions of the health industry.

A decent number of cases in ER are dramatic GSW’s [gun-shot wounds] and MVA’s [motor vehicle accidents]. [I’m down with the lingo] There’s yelling, O neg transfusions and applause. The pupil-dilating traumas are inter-dispersed with the occasional foot-stuck-in-toilet and accidental bee swallow. The critical and anecdotal cases are fun to watch but ignore the the vast majority of ER patients, and in doing so contribute to damaging misconceptions about the health industry. Most people who walk into a hospital emergency room do so because they don’t have a regular doctor or insurance. There’s no other place to go……

No matter your political persuasion, you probably agree that a lack of coverage afflicts the whole system…. but with the way shows like ER portray hospitals and healthcare, it’s pretty difficult for people to understand how and why.