Working with Mother Teresa

An important step towards Medical Onshoring (pat. pend.) ..

Once upon a time, someone whom I befriended volunteered for a year with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. My friend's letters were very gripping -- how, at the moment of death, the very great and mutual gratitude between patient and caregiver that fairly glowed. Pretty intense stuff. (And yes, Calcutta was like the Mumbi of "Slumdog Millionaire").

When my friend, age 34, returned to the U.S., many questions arose about what to do next. After long -- and sometimes pointed -- discussions, my friend decided to apply to medical school. Fifty of them. I suggested 10 was probably enough. At least 15 applications went out.

As a "Public Ivy" master's graduate, I explained what was required. I edited the admissions essay.

Accepted at Northwestern. Accepted at Harvard. Dang.

This was just another step in the process of developing Medical Onshoring (pat.-pend.). And doing what you can, with what you have.

Not politics. Not power and turf-wars. Not just money.

Just doing what has to be done, 110%.

"Moral Hazards" while traveling

http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?letter=M#moralhazard

Moral hazard

One of two main sorts of MARKET FAILURE often associated with the provision of INSURANCE. The other is ADVERSE SELECTION. Moral hazard means that people with insurance may take greater risks than they would do without it because they know they are protected, so the insurer may get more claims than it bargained for. (See also DEPOSIT INSURANCE, LENDER OF LAST RESORT, IMF and WORLD BANK.)

Per the Fannie/Freddie disaster -- when Americans travel overseas in questionable areas -- who bears the cost of saving them? As in this case --

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/autocodes/countries/south-korea/taliban-free-more-hostages-$1127908.htm

Taliban insurgents released all remaining South Korean Christian aid workers held in Afghanistan today.

The remaining seven hostages were released in two groups on Thursday, one day after 12 of the hostages held since mid-July were freed.

Agreement had been reached on Monday between the Taliban and South Korean negotiators to end the hostages' ordeal.

South Korea will remove its 200 troops and all missionaries and other civilians from Afghanistan by the end of the year in return for the release.

The 23 South Koreans originally captured were abducted as they travelled from Kandahar to Kabul on July 19th.

Two male hostages were subsequently killed after Taliban gunmen said their demands were not being met, while two female missionaries were later released as a goodwill gesture.

The world is a dangerous place. Obviously.

Mumbai, India attacks

In a terrorist attack -- not even a hospital is off-limits --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cama_Hospital

The 2008 Mumbai attacks were ten coordinated terrorist attacks across Mumbai, India's financial capital and its largest city. The attacks, which began on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killed at least 173 people and wounded at least 308. The attacks drew widespread condemnation across the world.

Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai: at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College. There was also an explosion at the Mazagaon docks, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle. By the early morning of 28 November, all sites except for the Taj Mahal Palace had been secured by Mumbai Police and security forces. An action by India's National Security Guards on 29 November resulted in the death of the last remaining attackers at the Taj Mahal Palace, ending all fighting in the attacks.