Speaker Critiques U.S. Healthcare System
Speaker Critiques U.S. Healthcare System
Dr. Jim Withers advocates for reforming the culture of American healthcare.
(Jim Withers, founder of the Street Medicine Institute. | SOURCE: Pitt Magazine / Renee Rosensteel)
“There are significant structural problems” in American healthcare, argued Dr. Jim Withers, speaking at Stackhouse Theatre at Washington and Lee University. Withers, the founder of the Street Medicine Institute and a former physician, argued in his March 26 speech that the healthcare industry in the United States requires reform.
Withers, whose talk was part of W&L’s Mudd Center for Ethics’ series on “How We Live & Die,” focused his criticism on the culture of American healthcare, which he characterized as competitive, dehumanizing, and lacking a focus on patients. Withers said there was a “hidden curriculum” in the healthcare industry about “us and them,” where the patients were almost always seen as the problem and as non-compliant. “I didn’t like the culture I was in,” Withers said regarding his leaving the industry.
Withers, who practiced medicine near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, described a situation in which a homeless man refused to stay in a hospital during a large snowstorm due to fear of mistreatment, freezing to death as a result. Withers had tried to convince him to stay, but said a “gap in reality” prevented him from doing this.
This “gap in reality,” Withers argued, comes from the mistrust many homeless people feel toward the healthcare industry, often from their past experiences with hospitals. After this incident, Withers began treating homeless people on the street, which became known as street medicine.
“I took off my white coat, hopefully took off my prejudices, took off my assumptions, and I really wanted to start fresh,” said Withers, describing his career shift.
Withers wanted to create a space where homeless people could receive the treatment they needed while also giving them a sense of acknowledgement and respect. “They’d rather die than go to the hospital because of the way they’ve been treated or the fears that they had,” he said.
Withers emphasized showing compassion and respect towards struggling individuals, encouraging the audience to advocate for them. He described it as an honor to be invited into their lives and to help care for them.
Withers’s approach to medicine has gained a larger following. “What started as just me doing a crazy thing became a movement,” he described.
To popularize his approach to healthcare, Withers opened the Street Medicine Institute, which promotes the creation of street medicine programs worldwide. Following Withers's model, other programs at universities and nonprofit organizations around the country also began to open. Fellowships and grants have been offered to help move this movement forward, and students are provided with shadowing opportunities.
Withers left the audience with a word of encouragement: “I am confident you all will humanize the world,” underscoring his commitment to assisting homeless populations.
