Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

by Tracy Kidder

In his report, Virchow expressed a fundamental law of epidemiology: “If disease is an expression of individual life under unfavorable conditions, then epidemics must be indicative of mass disturbances of mass life.” His prescription for curing Upper Silesia was “full and unlimited democracy.” This meant, among other things, establishing Polish as the official language, taxing the rich instead of the poor, getting the church out of the business of government, building roads, reopening orphanages, investing in agriculture. The government fired him. Virchow would write, “My politics were those of prophylaxis, my opponents preferred those of palliation.” He had a knack for aphorism. “Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing but medicine on a large scale.” “It is the curse of humanity that it learns to tolerate even the most horrible situations by habituation.” “Medical education does not exist to provide students with a way of making a living, but to ensure the health of the community.” “The physicians are the natural attorneys of the poor, and the social problems should largely be solved by them.” This last was Farmer’s favorite.