| ||
| Vol. 21, No. 6 |
| Apri 1, 1999 |
|
Dr. C. Everett Koop Discusses Public Health Enemies by ROGER WIDMEYER Texas Medical Center News Dr. C. Everett Koop was angry. He was describing the marketing efforts used by American tobacco companies in foreign countries - they especially target the young. And the standing-room-only audience in the 3rd floor auditorium at The University of Texas-Houston Medical School was angry listening to him.
The former Surgeon General (1981-1989) was in Houston March 17-18 to discuss "10 Critical Health Issues for the 21st Century" - the subject of his lecture to the SRO audience - and any other issues which were to be raised in a question-and-answer forum later that day. (The former Surgeon General also took some time to talk with the TMC News during his visit.) Clearly, tobacco remains Public Health Enemy # 1 to Dr. Koop, who is frequently called "America's Doctor." And, while it may appear that the tobacco industry is losing lawsuits and that smokers are finding it increasingly difficult to 'light up' in public, Dr. Koop is concerned - and angry. "You see more kids smoking these days than you did a few years ago," he said. "The lobbyists - they are so powerful - and a few politicians are responsible for this." He addressed other public health enemies in his speech, question-and-answer session and interview with the News:
"My hat is off to the primary care physician," said Dr. Koop. He was worried about the future of primary care. "Especially in managed care, where there is a reticence to refer patients to specialists, the burden on the primary care doctor can be tremendous," he said. "The primary care doc has to know so much. There's a real shortage of these doctors in rural areas and in the inner cities," continued Dr. Koop. "There, the majority of patients will be either Medicare or Medicaid, and so there will be a huge burden of paperwork."
Dr. Koop talked about the necessity of a "dialog" between public health and the medical profession. "It's terribly important for the two to be united because community medicine is really population health," he said. "Seeing patients one-on-one gives you a pretty good idea what's wrong with the population, and - if need be - public health can come in and work with you." Dr. Koop feels that the profession of medicine has, traditionally, been poor at disease and illness prevention, and he feels that physicians need to speak bluntly about a patient's risky habits. "We're more conscious of healthy habits, but too many people think like adolescents: 'Hey, it can't happen to me.' So their doctor needs to say to them, for example, 'Look, if you continue to smoke, it's going to kill you." Dr. Koop is a believer in people being responsible. "Take charge of your health," he told his audience, and added, "Because in this age of managed care, if you don't, no one else will." Since he left his Surgeon General post, Dr. Koop has been offered millions of dollars for the use of his name commercially. He has refused all offers - until last year when www.drkoop.com premiered on the World Wide Web. He had originally hoped to create a way for people to keep track of their own health, a personal medical record. "But it became the tail that wagged the dog," he told the News. In less than two months, www.drkoop.com has had over 2 million hits, more than any academic medical center web site. The site has over 66,000 pages of free information about illnesses, preventative health strategies, health resources and helpful information about insurance, HMOs, nutrition, tobacco, healthy recipes and menus... "There's a lot there," said Dr. Koop about the Web site. "But with over 17,000 sites about health and health care, we wanted to create one that would be trusted. You know, everything, whether right or wrong, glows with the same intensity on the computer screen."
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmc-info@tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/04_01_99/page_02.html |
