Villacreses 1
Martin Villacreses
ENC 1102
DR.Guenzel
30 march 2014
Rhetorical analysis
In the past years there has been debate over the issue of applying a system of
health reforms that can be considered a form socialized medicine in the United States.
Presidents Obamas proposed plan of ObamaCare is considered by many as a socialist
movement in medicine and welfare, meaning that the government will have control of
medicine and welfare, which has caused great discrepancy on the public. With this
growing issue in our country I wan to conduct research and find evidence if a system of
socialized medicine will be beneficial for the United States or if it will cause more harm
than good. Since my major is health science and my intended profession is going to be
within the realm of health science I thought It would be appropriate to research a topic
that could affect me in a positive or negative way in the future. I opted to research this
important and hotly debated issue in my field, since my future profession will be directly
affected by this decision. I want to research the advantages and disadvantages socializing
medicine has and also if adopting a system of socialized medicine similar to another
countries that has proven to work such as Canada. I will make sure to research from
different angles and perspectives how the public, insurance companies and the medical
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work force may be affected in a negative or a positive way. There are two obvious
perspectives in this issue, whether socializing medicine will be beneficial to the public,
doctors and insurance companies or it will cause harm to the public, doctors and
insurance companies. And lastly another perspective on the issue of socializing medicine
is who will ne the prime beneficiaries if medicine is socialized or kept private.
My research is going to be primarily based on articles, journals and blogs of
doctors, insurance companies that will provide me reasons and different arguments of the
perspectives I am trying to research. Another thing worth noting in my research is the
publics misunderstanding and context of what would be considered a socialized medicine
is, so in order for this I will have to research as well what is the definition and what
makes a system of health welfare considered socialized or if it simply misinformation of
the conflict or a misconception of the term.
From my list of sources I have chosen to do my analysis on a article published by
David Gerkin who is a ophthalmologist and a clinical associate professor of the
university of Tennessee and an author for the Tennessee Medicine: Journal Of The
Tennessee Medical Association because of the various articles I have read on the issue I
am researching Gerkins article stood out to me because it makes a comparison of two of
the perspective I am researching as well as provides different ideas and arguments.
Besides the article being well written and full of useful information that will impact my
future paper tremendously I also chose David Gerkins article not only because of the
content itself but also his credentials and his vast experience in the area of medicine.
David Gerkin published his article “Socialized Medicine vs. Un-socialized Medicine” in
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which he compares and contrast the two hotly debated issues and gives reason and
arguments on why people are for or against the ideas of a socialized medicine.
Gerkin is not only an author for this medical journal but is also the editor Of
Tennessee Medicine since 2002; he has written hundreds of articles and edited similar
number of articles. Dr. Gerkin is an ophthalmologist who has practiced medicine for the
military for many years as well as has been a professor of the university of Tennessee.
The author of this article background and professional career gives me the conclusion
that the article was written by an educated individual in the realm of medicine and who is
directly affected by a decision of establishing a system of socialized medicine. In his
article he does a comparison of having a system of socialized medicine vs. a not having
socialized medicine at all as well as provides reasons and different perspectives of this
issue. Being a respected ophthalmologist, the position he has as well his influence in the
field of medicine helps him interact and find different perspectives and arguments of this
issue.
The way the Journal works is authors publish their articles were other authors,
doctors and physicians peer review it and also give their opinions on the topics being
published. Physicians can share ideas and reinforce key concepts that impact their
practice of medicine. This journal also brings scholars together to engage in the latest
scientific discussions and to discuss debated topics in the field of medicine. The way the
articles are published in this journal tells me that before Gerkin published his article in
which he compares and contrasts socialized medicine vs. Un-socialized medicine it was
peer reviewed by other doctors and physicians which is great for my research because his
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article is essentially a collection of different ideas and arguments that are not all Gerkins
but also other doctors who gave their opinions and arguments in this topic.
The audience of this article would be readers who are interested in the issue of
socializing medicine but because the article is published in a medical journal the primary
audience will most likely be doctors, physicians and people in the realm of medicine such
as insurance companies. And the secondary audience as stated will consist of concerned
public, and anyone that wants to be informed about socialization of medicine. However,
this article can also be read by anyone that reads the Journal Of The Tennessee Medical
Association but its safe to say that a majority of the intended audience will be mostly
doctors or anyone in the medical field that wants to be informed in this growing issue. As
said before, the article is submitted in an E journal were it is peer reviewed by other
doctors and physicians before it is published. So the main audiences of these articles are
professionals in the medical field who want more information on these topics and also
want to give their opinion on debated issues such as this.
Through out the article the author makes an appeal to our ethos, making us feel
that what he speaks is the truth or that at least he is right since he primarily giving us his
opinion, reasons and arguments in why a system of socialized medicine is good vs. unsocialized medicine. Gerkin makes an appeal to our Pathos by giving reasons and
arguments of the two perspectives that appeals to reader’s emotions such as claiming that
taxes will be raised if a system of socialized medicine is adopted. Lastly he appeals our
logos by giving logical reasons and arguments in why a form of socialized medicine will
be beneficial or why remaining un-socialized is better. The author’s motivation to write
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this article is to inform other doctors, public and anyone that wants to be informed about
this issue that is debated and has great opposition and favoritism. Overall his article is
well organized and does a great job in overviewing different perspectives in this hotly
debated issue as well as keeping a informative tone as well as not biased. He gives
perspectives and arguments of why each choice will be beneficial and why it wouldn’t be
beneficial. I believe that this article has everything It needs to be considered a credible
source and a good one too, since it gives me different arguments, reasons and already
does a comparison for me of the two perspective (socialized vs. Un- socialized) that I will
be researching and writing about.
Overall I think that this article is a great source to write my research paper from,
because it not only does a great job in giving me arguments and ideas of the two
perspectives I am researching but also compares and contrast the issues I am researching.
Another reason worth noting why this article is a great one is because it was written by a
well known and respected doctor in the medical field who is also the editor of the journal
it was published as well his work was peer reviewed by other doctors and physicians that
may have given their input, ideas and reason why socialized medicine is a goof thing or a
bad thing.
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Works cited
Gerkin, David G. "Socialized Medicine Vs. Un-socialized Medicine." Tennessee
Medicine: Journal Of The Tennessee Medical Association 102.1 (2009): 6-8.
MEDLINE. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.