MISSOURI WATCH: POLITICIANS SHOULD MAKE HOUSE CALLS?

Although our ranks are slimming with each passing year, there are still those among us who can remember when doctors made house calls. It may come as a shock to large numbers of younger readers, but believe it or not, once upon a time, when you or a family member weren't feeling well, you'd go to a telephone and call the family physician. After a proper interval, braving all kinds of weather, there would appear at your home a man carrying a small satchel, and upon admission he would begin to practice an art that grows dimmer and dimmer in the memories of millions of Americans.

The physician in question, upon entering the bedroom where the patient entertained thoughts of death, calmly took note of your condition and, guided by years of practice and uncommonly common sense, would pronounce that you were merely suffering from a sinus infection or some strain of the flu or maybe just needed a laxative and a good night's sleep.

Whatever the diagnosis, the patient began recovery upon the doctor's presence in the sick room, took a turn for the better as the physician perfunctorily put on his stethoscope, and by the time he was ready to leave, the patient who only a few minutes before felt as if he were slipping away, was now well on the road to recovery.

Well, we have certainly come a long way from miracle medical recoveries since then, and while I am totally unqualified to pass judgment on all of today's modern medical procedures, I can personally attest to the efficacy of the old-fashioned methods. House calls in small communities may have cost a few bucks extra, but the value received was beyond calculation, and there seemed to be a direct correlation between the entrance of a doctor and the exiting of the Angel of Death.

The strange part of all this is that as fewer and fewer doctors made house calls around the clock, more and more patients began feeling worse and worse. As per capita illnesses increased, the availability of doctors decreased, escalating to the cancellation of house calls and personal visits and replaced by visits to a hospital or clinic waiting room where one got to mix with assorted patients suffering from assorted illnesses and spreading assorted germs indiscriminately. The fact that one waited long past the appointment hour before being seen by the physician-on-duty contributed greatly to the spread of whatever illnesses had been in evidence in the waiting room that day. The sickness du jour was destined to approach epidemic proportions as it was distributed about in the scrambling for wellness and good health.

At about the same time we collective patients were denied the presence of doctors at the side of our sickbed, we adopted a somewhat less reverent feeling for these dispensers of recovery. And at the same moment, as our trust in doctors diminished, so did our long-held trust in another great societal tradition: the ability of our elected officials to govern us wisely and honestly and competently.

Call me foolish, but I believe there is a correlation. If we no longer believe our doctors can keep us alive beyond the best estimate of a director of a friendly HMO, why should we have any greater confidence that we are being governed wisely despite assurances of a campaign director or party chairman?

Unlike the pols of an earlier era, we no longer see future officeholders in person. We only see them when they have enough contributions in hand to purchase commercials on TV. The only time we are accorded front-door service by office seekers these days is when the postman delivers an eight-page tabloid extolling the candidate's virtues with pictures taken at mall openings, political rallies and the traditional family-member gathering photo. Once upon a time candidates visited our homes, asked for our vote and explained why they were better qualified. Candidates for congressional offices visited every neighborhood in the district; if you were seeking state office you made every community in the county and you made 114 counties or risked losing the election.

No wonder we Americans no longer trust our politicians: we no longer trust our doctors. And we no longer trust either for the same reason: we no longer know them and they no longer really know us. Medicine and government will no doubt survive but the patient still has this pain and it keeps getting worse. Unfortunately recovery may be beyond the scope of modern science.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.