From the spotlight to the depths of depression, Mr. Ledger is a sad victim of a medical system that can't care, but only treat symptoms. Though Health Ledger apparently had friends and people who cared for him he fell into the hands of a medical system gone mad with drugging instead of healing. Though he may have had access to excellent counseling and all the financial capability necessary he still died from the prescription medication that was supposed to help him. I'm not opposed to all medication. I'm just opposed to a systematic reliance on drug therapy instead of identifying the roots of illness and addressing them. Certainly Mr. Ledger could have afforded nearly any treatment in the world. Regardless of his fame and financial status he became trapped in the treatment for his anguish.
The longer the medical system controls the health choices of individuals the further from healing we all drift. A system can't care. People care. People perform poorly in mechanistic inflexible systems that lend themselves to maximizing conformity. People are wonderfully unpredictable and certain to confound any system that relies on a statistical "average." I have never met an average person. Some people may be physically average but exceptional in every other way. The medical system seeks to take a huge population of people and produce a generic approach to treat all of them based on their symptoms. It's a grand idea but it has utterly failed. The only option is recognizing the unique brilliance in each of us. The other option is entrusting our health and our lives to a machine that can't care.
Don't get me wrong. Some of my best friends are doctors. Really, they are usually very kind competent people who may behave very poorly under the stress of the medical system. The system insists on a depersonalized relationship that is constantly reinforced by the economic and legal structures that enforce it. At the same time the medical press clamors for a return to a more human doctor. I don't know about how to make people more "human" but I do know that you can be brutal enough to create psychopathic behavior in otherwise healthy people. The system needs to be reserved for those things that are mechanical events. That would include things like drug manufacturing and medical equipment production. Even surgery requires the caring and artistry of experienced physicians to support the positive expectations of each patient (while doing excellent technical work).
Heath Ledger had the best prescription drug treatment in the world. He had so much that it killed him. It would be easy to blame him or his doctors. I simply blame a system that relies on things instead of people to help and heal. Maybe Mr. Ledger's death will help some people to wake up to the truth. We need each other to be healthy in mind and body. Prescription drugs are a powerful and wonderful tool in the hands of compassionate physicians who know and care about their patients. They are no replacement for relationships that can change the world of those who enjoy them.
