Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” It is a huge undertaking and few have the inclination to try. Doctor Paul Farmer, however, is an exception. For years, he’s been traveling the world, caring for the sick, and advocating for the poor: in Peru, in Mexico, in Russia, in Haiti, and most recently, in Rwanda.
Farmer’s work with those who are often forgotten has earned him the reputation of being something of a modern-day saint. Farmer dismisses such praise — he says he would be nothing without his patients, and that he simply doesn’t want to live in a world where the poor are allowed to die from TB and AIDS, while the wealthy expect access to the latest treatments. When the poor suffer, he says, so does everyone else. We talk about medicine, and morality with Doctor Paul Farmer.
Guests:
Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, Professor of Medical Anthropology in the Department of Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, attending physician in the Division of Infectious Disease at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and medical co-director of the Clinique Bon Sauveur, a charity hospital in rural Haiti.