Although I'm sure everyone agrees that health is multifaceted, not all will agree that changing the current health care system will maximize everyone's potential for living. Some posited in class that access to health care is not the end-all to bringinf out that potential for living in each individual. Individuals' lives are affected by more than a doctor's visit.

In the prompt, a couple of examples for change are given which i find interesting. Measuring happiness could determine a patient's potential for living but ultimately how does one take information like "you're happy in life" or "you're not happy in life" and "fix it" so that your potential for living increases? With a diagnosis for high blood pressure, people can pop a pill or two and fix it, but not the same with increasing potential for living. If we have nurses gather more information (or "indicators") like happiness as a way to change the current health system, I would imagine more would need to be done than just measurements to better one's potential. But that somewhat leads into the second example of having doctors helping to build up social networks. Research has shown that social networks can have a positive effect on how one deals with the stressors of life, which to me translates to having positive effect on a person's state of health and potential for living. According to Breslow's article, doctors are seen as professionals who help prevent and overcome disease, but doctors are overwhelmed when trying to fulfill his/her duty through the current system. What kind of role would a doctor play in helping to build social networks? If a person is deemed unhappy on the happiness scale, does his/her doctor play matchmaker? At what point can the doctor stop overseeing his/her patient's well-being? On a different note, even in the current system doctors already help some patients build up social networks when they refer them to support groups for cancer, grieving, disability, etc. Why (and how) should this system change if, to me, this falls under the duties of his/her profession, but going beyond that seems more like what a friend would do and less like a doctor?