Joshua Mezrich is an assistant professor of surgery who works for organ transplantation at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He wrote an article on February 26, 2013, called "On Purposely Getting Arrested, to Get Life-Saving Surgery," where he argues about the medical insurances for some Americans. He starts his article by telling a story of a patient which he performed surgery only because the patient, who did not have a medical insurance, was a criminal in prison which must receive medical care. The patient purposely committed a crime to go to jail, so he could be saved from his aneurysms. Mezrich shows researches which show that the bankruptcies in US usually happen because people need to pay for medical care to treat the ill. He reveals his opinion as a surgeon who often watches people dies because they cannot pay for their surgery since they do not have an insurance. He shows that many people without medical insurances need to do the extremes to be cured and saved. Mezrich ends his article by stating that he hoped that the patient who was a criminal stayed in jail longer, so that he could receive further help.
Throughout his article, Mezrich discusses a lot about medical insurances. His purpose was to tell the public about the absurdities which happens to people who are ill. People do not receive the treatment they need and are left to die. He reveals the harsh reality to his audience, who are normal citizens in US wanting to know about people who need live-saving surgery. Mezrich appeals a lot to emotion by showing his perspective as a transplantation surgeon. He also appeals to logic, since he refers to examples and statistics which aid in supporting his thesis. Even though his article seems to be informative at first, after reading the whole article, the reader will feel persuaded by Mezrich to think against the issue of people not having medical insurances. He uses real life examples of people who go through harsh times and need to make hard decisions for their health. The author uses rhetorical strategies such as irony in his article. This makes the reader reflect on Mezrich's point of view and think about the problem of medical insurances. The article overall makes the reader feel frustrated and go against US model of private health insurance.
This is an interesting article that reveals a lot about how persuasion works in the media. You do a good job of pointing out the fact that it isn't just an informational piece but crosses over into an editorial.
ReplyDeleteSome things you really need to correct. These are problems I've seen in your other writing, as well:
Insurance is always singular (like sheep).
Sentences that are too long -- to the point of being grammatically incorrect.
Your subject verb agreement (absurdities which happen to...)
You have to pay attention to these mistakes and correct them before you publish.
Transplant (not transplantation) surgeon -- check your terms, too.