What Did Virchow Mean?

As a bit of continuity, I would like to briefly explore the quote with which I closed the first post:

"Medicine is a social science and politics is a medicine on a large scale."--Virchow

Many people complain that the liberal multiverse is too fragmented ideologically. (The same is often said, interestingly, about Hinduism.) But in the context of this quote, almost all liberal positions--unemployment insurance, free health care, workers' rights, consumer protection, women's rights, minority rights, social security--make perfect sense. All are geared towards helping the individual blossom in a world in which he/she has less and less agency. Each policy, and the politics that make it happen, are designed initially and meant ultimately to help people actualize their potential, and to sacrifice to make this actualization happen for one another.

Is this ideal subverted sometimes? Of course it is. But it also works splendidly at others. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, public sanitation, rural electrification, the interstate system, and the enormous government investment in infrastructure and research are all examples of how well government can work when it is meaningfully engaged. They are all also examples of the government providing breathing room and basic amenities so that people have the time and energy to achieve all they can. Some will waste that gift, but that is true of all gifts, and is hardly a reason to stop giving them.

I entered medicine because I liked the idea of healing people and making them well. This remains true despite the reality of the ways in which medicine is often delivered, and it motivates me to want to improve that reality rather than abandon it altogether. There are politicians and public servants who enter politics for the exact same reason, and stay in it for the same.

That is why Virchow matters; he matters to those who enter politics and remember that they are using its tools not for personal enrichment but for easing the suffering of their constituencies. We are told in medicine to "keep the patient first"; when we do this, we almost always do the right thing. If politicians also "keep the people first", they are living by Virchow's words--and likewise have the potential to do much good.

Raman

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