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Tuesday, November 12, 1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Columbia/HCA hospital offers health care choice
The Lawrence City Commission will hear public debate and comment tonight on a proposal from Columbia/HCA, a health care corporation, to build a second for-profit hospital in Lawrence.
Lawrence residents should be happy that Columbia/HCA has decided to provide an alternative to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, the sole hospital in Lawrence.
Lisa Rector, a registered nurse at LMH, opposes a second hospital.
"The main reason we oppose Columbia coming is that right now we don't feel that there's a need for a second hospital. LMH, if you look at the different price ranges in the area, is one of the lowest-priced hospitals around."
Rector said that if another hospital came to Lawrence, the resulting duplication of services would mean that prices would increase at LMH and at the second hospital. She also said that, nationally, Columbia/HCA turns away patients who cannot pay.
Rector further added that only 50 percent of LMH's beds are being used. "There's always enough room in our hospital. We never turn anyone away because of space or because they can't pay."
Kevin Hicks, president and CEO of Columbia Overland Park Regional Medical Center said he believed a second hospital would be beneficial.
"Columbia Overland Park is less expensive to the Johnson County community than LMH is to the Lawrence community. Negotiated managed-care contracts in a competitive environment have greatly decreased costs to the consumer," Hicks said.
Hicks also disputed the claim that Columbia turns away those who cannot pay.
Hicks said Mount Oread Medical Arts Centre, 3500 Clinton Parkway, was committed to providing care for everyone. The center has been in Lawrence since July 1994 and is a member of Columbia/HCA.
"Mount Oread is providing uncompensated care. I am outraged when LMH supporters infer that Columbia is not willing to care for the medically indigent." Hicks noted that Columbia/HCA provides $1 billion in uncompensated care annually in the United States. Uncompensated care refers to services that are not paid for because patients lack insurance or money to pay for those services. Since Mount Oread opened, it has provided about $720,000 in uncompensated care to Lawrence, said a representative of Hicks.
The second hospital will carry its fair share of indigenous care. A second hospital will also reduce the burden on LMH." Hicks said.
Hicks also said the claim that LMH is only 50 percent full was true only at given times.
"We have physicians that work in Lawrence that also work with us, and we know that there are times of the year when LMH is full and patients cannot get in."
Perhaps the best arguments for a second for-profit hospital in Lawrence are those that pertain to choice and competition. Fifty-four percent of Lawrence residents go some place other than LMH for hospital care. This often involves long trips — 35 to 40 miles is a long distance for a woman in labor.
A second hospital also would mean more jobs for Lawrence and $600,000 in property tax revenue each year for the community. The fact that Columbia/HCA is a for-profit firm should not discourage anyone from supporting it. As Hicks said, "Quality care and cost-effective care are not incongruous."
The City Commission will hear comments from the community at 6:35 p.m. at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts Streets. Students should attend the meeting and join other members of the community to support choice, competition and opportunity. Support a second hospital in Lawrence.
TOM MOORE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Holocaust's veil of silence, shame must be lifted by German people
Survivor says citizens deified Hitler, allowed extermination
As a businessman, my father has made frequent trips abroad. To aid him in being a polite visitor, he purchased a book titled Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands that briefs readers on guidelines to follow while doing business in foreign countries.
Illustration by Martina Witt
During winter break last year, I looked through the book and noted that while in Germany, one should avoid bringing up the Holocaust. My first reaction to this was, "Well, duh, of course you wouldn't go up to someone and say, 'Hey, wasn't your country responsible for the systematic slaughter of millions?' It seemed almost humorous to me that the author even included such a tip in the book.
However, recently that statement has come back to haunt me. This semester, I am taking a Holocaust in History class, and I have begun to think more about the role of German citizenry in the extermination of the Jews.
The role of German citizens
Six million Jews and six million others died. Isn't it fair to expect someone to assume some personal responsibility? Many participants have claimed that they were just following orders. That is ludicrous.
The book's advice no longer amuses me. Instead, it angers me. Why shouldn't people bring up the Holocaust to Germans? It happened in their country because of their government. German citizens expedited the process of rounding up and murdering Jews.
If someone put a gun in your hand and ordered you to pull the trigger on your best friend, would you? Would you be able to listen to the dying screams of someone you loved and know that you caused the pain? Ask yourself that when you excuse someone for just following orders.
"There is no question that Hitler was God, or the closest thing to God," said Louis Frydman, associ-
Many Germans didn't have a second thought about turning in their friends, neighbors, merchants, doctors and teachers to the Nazis, simply because they were Jewish. Granted, some Germans hid Jews in their homes, but this was the exception rather than the rule. The general public had no problem with sending fellow citizens to their death.
Even the people who didn't physically kill are just as guilty. The majority of people knew what was going on. They saw the trains crammed with Jews and others passing by. They witnessed the disappearance of their neighbors.
Asurvivor speaks
It didn't matter that he was delusional. It didn't matter that he was insane. It didn't matter that he was determined to exterminate an entire group of people based on their religion. He provided a scapegoat to an economically suffering nation, and the nation accepted it readily.
In fact, many historians have said that if a popular election was held in Germany in the middle of World War II, Hitler would have won by a landslide. Many people loved the man. He was going to solve all of their problems.
Column by Stephanie Brewer
"For anyone to say, 'I didn't realize what was going on,' is nonsense," he said.
for anyone to have lived in Germany during the war and not know of the murders taking place.
America'srole
ate professor in the School of Social Welfare and a survivor of the Holocaust. "He was worshiped by the German nation. He made them feel like supermen."
As a Jewish child in Poland during the war, Frydman had first-hand experience with the attitudes of average citizens to his plight.
He and his brother, Abraham, were captured by the Nazis during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April 1943 and sent to Budzyn, a concentration camp in Po'and. By the time he was liberated in 1945, Frydman had been a prisoner in seven or eight camps.
"When we we marched as prisoners and encountered German people, it was clear their sympathy was with our guards," Frydman said. "Sometimes guards had to
Frydman also disputes the theory that perhaps the citizens did not know of the Nazis' actions against the Jews. He said it was impossible
Unfortunately, other governments and citizens of other countries also knew of the murders and looked the other way. The American government also is guilty of turning its back on the Jews.
"The support, the enthusiasm was contagious," he said. "Virtually each and every German I encountered during World War II felt he was above everyone else."
Thousands of refugees seeking shelter in America were sent back to Europe, where most of them died. The government knew what was happening, yet for years it failed to take action.
The Germans are not the only ones guilty of
Some say the average citizens should not be faulted for the work of a madman. Even Ronald Reagan said during his presidency that the German people were victims of the Nazi regime. However, Frydman thinks the Germans were far from victims.
allowing the Nazis to annihilate millions. However, just how great their role was often has been downplayed, and it continues to be today.
Minimalization continues
Frydman said that German journalists and writers now were prohibited from publishing the names of many Nazi war criminals. He said this was unforgivable. I agree. These people should not be protected—they are murderers.
They were not just following orders. They were killing, plain and simple. Obviously, Germany as a nation has not come to this realiza-
protect us from the civilians."
tion yet. Frydman said he had read some excellent works on the Holocaust recently by German writers.
But he said these were not popular books, as most of the German public still is looking the other way.
"In terms of average citizens, my feeling is they are still in denial," Frydman said. "They believe what they have done is no different than what the Allies have done by bombing cities."
What they did was different, though, and it is important to study and realize their role as a nation in the Holocaust. Although the Holocaust is a unique event, there is no assurance that an atrocity of its magnitude cannot happen again. There will always be madmen. The question is: Will there be people to support their insanity?
Even among those citizens who were adults, some are innocent of any wrongdoing. Frydman agreed that there were exceptions to the general pro-Nazi attitude. But that's exactly what they are — exceptions.
I am not advocating the hatred of Germans or advising that tourists launch verbal attacks on German citizens because of their country's role in the Holocaust. That would be ridiculous because many people were either not born or were very young during World War II.
Most did nothing to stop the killings, and these people should not be allowed to hide behind their veil of shame. This is not something that becomes any less horrific as time passes. It cannot be pushed to the back of people's minds and forgotten.
No one, regardless of nationality, should make excuses for the people who allowed the Holocaust to happen. It should not be dismissed as something that happened 50 years ago that should be forgiven and forgotten.
The moment the world forgets is the moment it becomes possible for history to repeat itself.
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