Idle Hands

I arrived at Disability Physicals this morning in a great mood. I don't know why, maybe it was because I got to have breakfast with my family, or maybe it was because I slept pretty well last night. Regardless of the reason, I settled into my freezing office, looked at my full morning schedule, and thought, "this will probably be a good day." The clock read 8:01 AM. At 8:25, I thought, "well, one no show, no big deal." At 9:25, I thought "Well crap, that's three no-shows in a row, there goes a nice chunk of change." Thankfully, at 9:45 my 9:30 showed up.

He was 19 years-old, 6'2, 302 lbs, and his chart read he had a learning disability that caused him to need a tutor in math and English. He also reported that he had "some leg pain that causes me pain." Great. Anyway, I introduced myself, and lead him into the office, at which point, I asked him, "So, what keeps you from working?"
"Well," he responded, "I've never worked before, but I thought that my leg pain would probably keep me from working, as my leg gives out sometimes."
"Wait," I replied. "You've never worked before, you're just worried that you might not be able to?"
"Right, and I've got this learning problem - I needed a tutor in math and English."
I'm sure I probably rolled my eyes, although I tried not to. I honestly was a little shocked. Here's an apparently healthy teenager who is trying to get disability because he's worried that he couldn't work? It just didn't make sense to me. I continued with the questions.
"So when does your leg hurt?"
"Oh, once in a while...it'll probably go out 1-2 times every 3 weeks."
"So besides that it doesn't hurt?"
"Not really, although one time it gave out while I was holding a door open for my sister."
"Well, at least chivalry isn't dead," I replied.
"Who's dead?"
Anyway, the questions basically led nowhere. He ended up stating that his pain was transient, and he was just trying to find some way to make money. Apparently getting a job wasn't an option. His exam was totally normal, as you might image, with the exception of very bloodshot eyes, and the faint smell of marijuana wafting from his clothing. He left the office, girlfriend and little boy in tow.

As amusing as this encounter was, it also made me think. Why is a getting disability check for the rest of your life a better option than getting a job - even a minimum wage one? I've had grown men cry in my office because they were so embarrassed they were applying for disability, and this guy comes in, never having worked a day in his life, and expects me (and you) to pay for him until he "retires?" It's total arrogance, not to mention extremely lazy. Since when did working hard become hardly working?

We strive as a society to provide for those less fortunate than ourselves. Whether you call it religious charity, personal altruism or whatever, we have developed a "need" to care for those suffering from loss - be it physical, emotional or otherwise. What do we do, then, when those in "need" abuse the systems that were created for them? Obviously we can't remove social security, welfare and so on, there are too many people who actually need those programs to justify scrapping the thing as a whole. We have to treat the root cause of the problem, which in my opinion is laziness. My wife recently told me that she was reading an article in which they interviewed some very well known "workaholics." The main reason, she told me, that these people worked so hard was that they never wanted to be called lazy. Now, while I by no means think that being a workaholic is a good thing, I do think that as a whole, our society could use a little jumpstart to its work ethic. Call me callous, but I hate to think that a portion of my earnings are going towards paying a person a monthly check because they're "worried they couldn't get a job."  

If you think about it, we're really amazing creatures. The testament to our God-given gifts of creativity and dedication are all around us. With the New Year approaching, I think that we should try and focus on working just a little harder at all the things we do. Rome definitely wasn't built in a day, but if everyone gave 100%, who knows what might be.

And now for the disability quote of the day:

Patient's mother's written response to the question, "Has your condition affected your ability to drive? If so, how?"
"He only drives when the car's not running."

Until next time,
-DD