The Marco Polo Fire: Up-to-date Safety Systems as a Public Health Necessity
As news continues to be reported on the multiple fire safety measures such as the absent sprinkler systems and out-dated fire alarms that were overlooked by multiple private and public institutions in the tragic Marco Polo fire, resulting in three horrific deaths, it is important to consider this event as a failure in public health. Upstream doctors like myself are becoming aware of the causal chain of events that take place days to years before an acute illness or injury as well as before the emergence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. But public safety systems have a different ethical flavor than the unhealthy individual lifestyle choices we often make. I would like to advocate for the value of public health as a prerequisite for a just society. But much harder than asking my patients to put down the bottle or take up some daily exercise, much harder is it to ask public and private institutions to uphold evidence-based emergency safety standards and not to cut corners. As with Flint Michigan's water supply or the insufficient water dikes of New Orleans, where do we begin the conversation in Hawaii?

