MESSAGE FOR EARTH
Again and again in his mind, Black Jack keeps going over the question of what medicine really is, and what human happiness means.
From "Save Our Mother Earth"
There is a purpose to everyone's life, and when that purpose has been fulfilled, we have to move on to the other side which is death. Black Jack, in battling to keep the dying in this world, may be only acting on his own pride. While living beings think there is naturally more happiness in remaining alive, the spirit may have a different outlook.
Always working on the borderline between life and death, Black Jack knows very well about the limitations of medicine: that it cannot penetrate the world of the spirit. Because Black Jack is aware of this, it is the source of the dilemma that he has to deal with every single day.
I hope that the world of medicine will never forget the important things. Human beings are a species of animal that cannot live without pride in what they do.
From "Save Our Mother Earth"
Here, the Buddha tries to help a woman who has developed boils all over her body by sucking out the pus. This kind of true desire to save people, no matter what must be done, is perhaps the most important concept that individuals involved in medicine must always maintain. We have lost the basic desire to save life and to help others. Instead, doctors these days give patients too much medicine in order to make a profit, and hospitals turn away ambulances, saying there are no empty beds: this is the state of modern medicine. This illustration of the Buddha depicts a basic concept of medicine: that we should be able to give our all to save the endangered life before us.
The medical world cannot even be the stage for a drama if we take away the concepts of "authority" and "career." This illustrates just how conservative the relationships between people are in this field.
From a commentary on "Eulogy to Kirihito"
The sad truth these days is that many doctors put their patients second in order to gain honor and distinction in their profession. It seems to be in the news almost every day about how doctors neglect to follow the correct procedures in determining brain death so that they can gain notoriety for transplants, or how they cover up obvious cases of malpractice to protect their own reputations. Doctors are often guilty of ignoring the needs of human beings, all in the name of pride. Because Tezuka Osamu was himself a doctor, his works all the more effectively highlight the problems of authoritarianism among doctors.