CNN) When Wendell Potter first saw them, he froze.
It felt like touching an electrical fence, he says. I remember tearing up and thinking, how could this be real.
Thousands of them had lined up under a cloudy sky in an open field. Many had camped out the night before. When their turns came, doctors treated them in animal stalls and on gurneys placed on rain-soaked sidewalks.
They were Americans who needed basic medical care. Potter had driven to the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia in July 2007 after reading that a group called Remote Area Medical, which flew American doctors to remote Third World villages, was hosting a free outdoor clinic.
Potter, a Cigna health care executive who ate from gold-rimmed silverware in corporate jets, says that morning was his Road to Damascus experience.
It looked like a refugee camp, Potter says. It just hit me like a bolt of lightning. What I was doing for a living was making it necessary for people to resort to getting care in animal stalls.
A health care 'Judas' recounts his conversion – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs
It felt like touching an electrical fence, he says. I remember tearing up and thinking, how could this be real.
Thousands of them had lined up under a cloudy sky in an open field. Many had camped out the night before. When their turns came, doctors treated them in animal stalls and on gurneys placed on rain-soaked sidewalks.
They were Americans who needed basic medical care. Potter had driven to the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia in July 2007 after reading that a group called Remote Area Medical, which flew American doctors to remote Third World villages, was hosting a free outdoor clinic.
Potter, a Cigna health care executive who ate from gold-rimmed silverware in corporate jets, says that morning was his Road to Damascus experience.
It looked like a refugee camp, Potter says. It just hit me like a bolt of lightning. What I was doing for a living was making it necessary for people to resort to getting care in animal stalls.
A health care 'Judas' recounts his conversion – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs