Photo Courtesy of Princess Parker-Smith

The liver/kidney transplant service was one of the most notorious surgical rotations at my medical school. Obscenely early mornings, tough supervising physicians, on your feet in the operating room sometimes for 8 hours straight. But more than any of this, it was the weekly transplant conferences which became most seared into my memory.

Each week doctors, administrative assistants, social workers, and others sat at a large boardroom table and reviewed patients, to see who was eligible to be listed to receive a life-saving organ. And each time, the very first question, before any other discussion was able to take place, was “what type of insurance do they have?”. A transplant is incredibly expensive, and I recall the multitude of times that the discussion was over as soon as it started, because people were uninsured or had nominal plans which didn’t cover the life-saving transplant they required. It struck me then, as it does now, that in a just, modern healthcare system, this should never happen.

This experience sparked my belief in Medicare for All, and is one key reason why I have chosen to support Senator Bernie Sanders to be our next president.



Now as a doctor completing my training in pediatrics, I’ve seen firsthand that the stakes of this election could not be higher. From income inequality to gun violence, the well-being of my patients is deeply intertwined with a whole host of intersecting policies.

Senator Sanders’ bold platform speaks most directly to their needs. This isn’t theoretical for me. I remember vividly as a first-year physician, as parents asked for their children to be moved to better ventilated parts of the hospital because the scent of smoke from Campfire, the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history, had settled into our building corridors. I’ve seen why we need a Green New Deal. Frequently I meet with families of young children in clinic, as they often tearfully describe the astronomical lengths they are traversing to afford skyrocketing rents and evade homelessness. I’ve seen why we need Housing for All.



But this essential transformation will not come easily. Whether we are talking about standing up against the for-profit health insurance industry or fossil fuel companies, we cannot underestimate the strength of political obstructionism or the stranglehold that money has in politics. These challenges are far too great to overcome with any individual person or plan. If we’re going to make a real impact on issues that matter to our families, to our communities, and to the children that I have the privilege of taking care of, we require a politics that is people powered and a president who has consistently shown they will do the right thing even when it is the difficult thing.



This is what sets Senator Sanders apart. He not only articulates a message that is on par with the gravity of the times, but he also is the captain of a movement which will be the vehicle for the change we seek. A movement that will strengthen our nation. A movement that will protect our planet. A movement that will form a health care system not principled on revenue-growth and profit, but on justice and human rights.

I will be voting for Bernie Sanders for president, because my patients’ lives will be made better by such a movement.