An Enemy of the People

Although Henrik Ibsen wrote An Enemy of the People in 1882, it remains almost eerily current. The play was very well done and reminded us once again of its powerful message. The play was about a doctor in a small town in Norway, who discovered that the local healing baths were contaminated with bacteria and people were getting sick. He brought his finding to the town authorities, but they wanted to silence him because the local baths generated income for the town from tourists who came to the baths. He was horrified and tried to make his findings public; however, he was thwarted in his efforts, and the more he tried, the stronger the townspeople acted against him and his family. Finally, he was completely ruined.

The play reminds us that even today, "morality" must decide between public health and welfare on the one hand and public wealth on the other. Politicians depend for their very lives on money, so it seems that often they choose the financial well-being of their donors over the greater public good. Just last year, the arthritis drug Vioxx was found to increase the risk of heart attacks and stroke and it was withdrawn from the market. However, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) testified before the Congress that the health threat of Vioxx had been known for more than two years, but they had been prevented from speaking about it. Even when action was finally taken to remove the drug from the market, the action was taken by the company making the drug, rather than the FDA. Just as when Ibsen wrote this play, the public must decide on the morality of their elected officials versus the morality of those who try to protect them from dangers to their health and their wealth. Inspectors General constantly face this same obstacle in trying to do their jobs. Ibsen remains current today, and one can only hope that eventually he will not be.