Process

(Our three-way discussion continued.)

I considered for a moment and felt slightly uneasy as L was too cynical, "But, my friend, as far as I could see, there remains a possibility that a really good program of one kind or another could reduce hospital stay or admission in the long run."

"Exactly. I agree it is not easy to pick up the truly valuable one - probably more difficult than picking a 10-bagger from hundreds of IPO each year." S added, and turned to L, "But, it looks as if you are implying nothing would do what-so-ever !"

(For those not familiar with the stock market, IPO stands for Initial Public Offer.)

"Right, I really mean what I said." L was affirmative.

"Why?" S and I were almost in resonance.

"That is because, my dear friends, the biology of human body has not changed in the past ten thousand years," L suddenly looked grim, "On the average, a human body died after a certain degree of accumulated wear-and-tear, usually from repeated ones here and there. The need and duration of hospital stay is, in essence, a measure of that wear-and-tear. A treatment that successfully reverts the damage this time would mean the same person would come back some time later for a problem elsewhere."

"You mean ..." I hesitated to elaborate, "If a program is successful and save someone's life, it would only mean he would have the chance to be admitted some time later - hopefully for some entirely different problem."

"True, if the program is a really good one. Otherwise the process of death would be prolonged - and so is the need of hospital stay," L nodded, "Or, to put it simply, we all agree everyone would eventually die, but, the less appreciated fact is, when our population is taken as a whole, a certain amount of hospitalization is inevitable before we all die."