Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died last night, published an opinion piece in Newsweek on July 18; most of the piece was dedicated to
the cause of national health insurance, but note the emphasis, here, on Serious Medicine--chemotherapy, proton-beam radiation therapy, and so on.
Now I face another medical challenge. Last year, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center removed part of the tumor, and I had proton-beam radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital. I've undergone many rounds of chemotherapy and continue to receive treatment. Again, I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy.
Sadly, Serious Medicine didn't work in the case of Teddy Kennedy, but as the late senator from Massachusetts once said, "The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Love'em or Hate'em he never waivered from his liberalism. What made him great was he could compromise to work with the right on a particular issue without reliquishing where he stood as a liberal.
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