A recent New York Times article titled “The business of healthcare depends on exploiting doctors and nurses” explains how providers are forced to take on increasing workloads and responsibilities without compensation by relying on their high moral and altruistic values of doing what is best for the patient. It explains how this leads to a higher rate of burnout and suicide compared to other professions. There were also some rather startling statistics. “From 1975 to 2010, the number of health care administrators increased 3,200 percent. There are now roughly 10 administrators for every doctor.” And includes the admonition “if we converted even half of those salary lines to additional nurses and doctors, we might have enough clinical staff members to handle the work.” Think about that the next time you try to find a doctor, get an appointment, or diagnostic test within a reasonable time period.

DR. JOSEPH HOULE,

Alpena