Access: Too Little, Or Too Much?(From the President) (Column‪)‬

The word "access"-used in conjunction with "to medical care" or "to health care"-might be imagined to denote the ability of a sick person, or someone with a medical condition, to find a physician willing and able to address the problem. This phraseology has become commonplace in medical journals and in the lay press, but I do not recall hearing, until recently, the anguished plaint that patients lack "access" to medical care, or that their "access" to it faces threats. Nor do I recall seeing or hearing of anybody in my neighborhood suffering a lack of care. As a former intern and resident in a series of urban hospitals, I cannot recall any evidence that people with even minor ailments were turned away.