Healthcare systems and delivery models

¶ … Band Played on directed by Roger Spottiswoode. Specifically it will discuss the film's relevance to the healthcare industry, and the emergence of new, unknown diseases. "And the Band Played on" is a moving drama about the emergence of the AIDS crisis in America, (and the world) and how it was mishandled by leading healthcare agencies.

When Don Francis stood up in the meeting and asked about people dying, it was one of the most electric moments of the film. He had seen what horrific epidemics could do in Africa, and he saw the American healthcare community essentially ignoring the disease because it was present in the homosexual community. He was fighting for something he knew was right, and he was fighting for a population that was incredibly ignored at the time, and he could not believe that people would not help them, regardless of their sexual orientation. He was incredulous and angry, and that is the reaction that came up watching this film. These people suffered just because they were gay, and that is inhumane and in direct opposition to the credo of healthcare professionals everywhere. Anyone watching this film should have been angry and incredulous at that scene, because it is just wrong.

The American government's position on the disease was wrong, too. These people were American citizens, who deserved the same protection under the Constitution as anyone else. They deserved common decency and understanding, as well. They were ignored because of their lifestyle, and that is judgmental and against human rights to a large degree. At one time, Bill Kraus says, " One journalist said to me the only people interested in reading about gay men dying are gay men and the one's who'd wish they'd all die" (and the Band Played on), and that seems to be the reaction from the government, as well. They just wish the problem would to away and they could ignore it, because they know it is going to get worse, and become a social and political issue. The government also baulked at the cost of developing new procedures and studies, meaning that money and budgets were more important than human lives.

The government considered this a moral issue because the disease was affecting gay men, and gay men and their lifestyle were immoral to a majority of Americans. The government considered them immoral as well, and did not want to support activities a majority of the American people did not approve of or agree with. It was also, at least at first, only affecting one small segment of the population, and they felt it was not an issue for the "average" American, and so they would not be concerned with it, or the outcomes to a segment of the population that they did not condone.

Absolutely, the disease would have been studied much more quickly and effectively had the subjects been heterosexuals. It would have been more frightening because "anyone" could get the disease, and it would not have been such a small segment of the population that was initially touched by the disease. As it came to be known, blood did spread the disease, and people who were not and are not gay can get the disease, and it seems that after this became widely known, the study did pick up. The healthcare profession should have begun study on the disease no matter who was affected, and that is a black mark for the American healthcare population and their ignorance and ignoring of this disease.

Don Francis is the "hero" of the film, and he is hard not to like because he is dedicated, he knows right from wrong, and he tries to get people to act respectably and with decency, when many of them are self-serving and arrogant. He also has a sense of morality and a conscience, which help him do the right thing and make him more likeable. You can feel his frustration with the system and with the opposition to study, and to the working conditions and lack of funding, too. He is made to be likeable, of course, but he is caring and concerned, something that cannot be said for many of the other characters. Bill Kraus is another important character, because the audience comes to care about him, despite his lifestyle, and it is hard to see him die by the end of the film.

Of course, one of the villains of the film is Dr. Gallo, played by Alan Alda, who disagrees with just about every aspect of study, and is more concerned about getting credit for discovering the disease, rather than cooperating with other governments to create a valid and relevant study. He is arrogant, manipulative, and utterly without morals, it seems, and extremely competitive, too. He wants to discover the disease and how it is transmitted not because he cares about the victims, but for purely self-serving reasons, and that makes him exceptionally easy to dislike.