Dissident Voice

June 14, 2003

The following fictitious situation describes the Bush "Road Map to Peace", with George W. Bush in the lead role as an emergency room physician in a major urban hospital:

A wreck has occurred. A drunken, optically-impaired driver of a large truck has run over a group of schoolchildren. The driver suffers a small laceration on his face, and numerous children are maimed with multiple compound fractures, internal injuries, and some are near death. The driver as well as the victims are taken to the emergency room, where the doctor enters to find a room full of noise from grievously injured, untreated children in great pain.

"Silence!", the doctor orders. We must have silence! I cannot work in all this noise!

Momentarily distracted from their pain, the children quiet themselves and try to listen for calls for them to be brought to treatment, to heal their wounds, but no treatment seems forthcoming. But, since they are told they are in a hospital ward, they seem hopeful. The pain grips them again very soon and they began crying and pleading for help and once again begin making a lot of noise.

"Silence!", again roars the physician. "Silence!" "I said I want silence and I mean I want silence!" "You people don't seem to get it -- for me to help you in treating your injuries, I need you to settle down and wait patiently for your treatment to begin."

One of the children speaks up. "But when are you going to treat our injuries? Some of us are in a lot of pain, and you are examining the driver of that truck, who caused our injuries and who is suffering mildly by comparison. Why are you treating the driver and ignoring us?"

The doctor is not the least bit swayed by such arguments, and continues examining the wounds on his brother-in-law, the truck driver. But, after a couple of additional episodes of silencing the children, some of whom are now displaying signs of severe infection, dehydration and nearness of death in their untreated condition, the doctors offers a plan.

"We are going to help everybody here in this room. You can count on it!

After the driver is treated and we make sure his insurance settlement is guaranteed, and we get his truck repaired and get him back to work, we will begin treating some of your ailments. For now, each of you can share a glass of water we will pass around. It may not seem like much right now, but please share the water, which amounts to a hefty six drops per child. And be silent! We will eventually start x-raying your injuries, if we can get our x-ray machine repaired. And we will set your broken bones and we will make you well again."

“But you must remain silent for now -- we have work to do in getting this driver healed and back on the road"

And the emergency room physician, Dr. Bush, smugly turns and goes back into his office. He is reading his physician training manual on treating minor lacerations. The fact is that he was not a very good medical student, and only is employed because his father owns the hospital. Despite his lack of understanding of the formal skills of a physician, Doctor Bush is full of self-confidence, because he is in charge of the emergency room -- it is HIS emergency room, and he can treat the patients as he wishes. There is no one to question his medical skill. And he is employing a brand new medical style of treatment for mass injuries in an emergency room situation. He calls it "anti-triage" and he believes wholeheartedly it will work .....

Stan Moore lives in San Geronimo, CA., and can be contacted at: hawkman11@hotmail.com