[This issue, I continue a series focused on poems written by C Ron Cannon, MD, a retired Jackson Otolaryngologist and a longtime member of this association as well as a past contributor to this Journal. My first scientific publication in this Journal was co-writtten and led by Dr. Cannon, who also served as my teacher and mentor during my medical training.1 He is a gifted physician whose work and teaching influenced many other physicians and improved the lives of countless patients. This poem, “Corporate Medicine,” reflects on the encroachment of corporate values into the practice of medicine, asserting “Patients are more than a numbers game.” The poet calls corporate medicine “a beast on the loose” and underscores that patients’ lives must “come first.” Cannon asks, “Is a patient’s outcome, inverse to corporate income?” This poem seems especially timely with the recent murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO by Luigi Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland family, which has brought to the forefront widespread consumer frustration with the American medical system now dominated by corporate health insurance values.2
Last year, Dr. Cannon published a book entitled “Reflections on a Career in Medicine: Notes from the field,” a brilliant and original collection of thoughts and memories of the practice of medicine over forty years all expressed in poetic rather than narrative format. This poem is from that collection. In looking over his long career, Cannon remembers, “The majority of the time I did not feel as if I had to go to work, but enjoyed the relationships with other doctors, nurses and staff members and especially with my patients. It is meaningful to be able to help folks with their health issues. One of the unique aspects of medicine is that you continue to learn and evolve as a healer.”3 He asserts that he wrote the book as a memoir of his career for his family, fellow physicians and health professionals, and non-medical readers. This unique collection provides ample insights into the practice of medicine and the diverse experiences which health professionals encounter daily.
He adds, “There are over 55 different types of poetry, including for example clipping sections from a newspaper or magazine and looking for word patterns. In this broad context the following collection could be considered to be poetic. I thought this would be a more interesting way to convey my thoughts than simply a matter of fact dry recounting of my experiences in the practice of medicine. In this collection are several different types of poetry. Utilized primarily are couplets with end rhymes, some limericks (well sort of- but not very bawdy!) about several common patient complaints and other medical specialties. I poke some gentle fun of my friends in other specialties but also at my own specialty. Anyone who can withstand the rigors of medical school and the following years of specialty training has my utmost respect! Some of the names that I used are indeed fellow docs that I have known, at other times just needed a name that would rhyme. There are also quatrains, cinquains, acrostics, symploce and a few other forms as well.”3
He revealed, in very kind comments, that this Journal’s regular poetry feature played a key role in his interest in poetic expression: “Oddly enough my interest in poetry was kindled by the scientific publication of the Mississippi State Medical Association. The Journal features a section on Poetry in Medicine. Many of the poems in this section have been written by Mississippi physicians. These poems were the genesis of efforts to write my own poems.”3
Dr. Cannon has served as President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/ Head and Neck Surgery and for its certifying board. He also served as Chairman of the national ENT Doctors Board of Governors. He and his wife Beth live on a lake in Brandon.
The editorial assistance of Cathy Chance Harvey, PhD, of Tylertown, in the preparation of this poem is gratefully acknowledged. Physicians are invited to submit poems for publication in the Journal either by email at drluciuslampton@gmail.com or regular mail to the Journal, attention: Dr. Lampton.]—Ed.
Corporate Medicine
There is a beast on the loose
Corporate medicine- vulture or golden goose?
With lots of dictates and inane games
It seems medicine is going down in flames!
Medicine in the business domain?
Patients are more than a numbers game
Profit as the measure of success?
Nothing more than an ugly abscess!
Too many chiefs, a bureaucracy
Economy of scale, and hypocrisy
Regardless of how patients fare,
Concentrate on the market share
Docs, trained to be captain of the ship,
Nowadays, just an oarsman or get the pink slip
Can’t run a hospital from afar,
Boots on the ground are best, knowing the local repertoire
Corporate stupidity knows no bound
Poor decisions which always astound
Is a patient’s outcome,
Inverse to corporate income?
Physicians will help contain cost,
As long as patient care is uppermost
Send patients to Docs that are best
From the hospital system be wrest
Clinical care that is not coerced
Patients’ lives come first
Business and medicine as a mix,
Is it real, or a bag of tricks?
—C Ron Cannon, MD
Brandon, Mississippi