Oulu is five hours north from Helsinki by train and a good deal colder and darker each winter than the Finnish capital. From November to March its 220,000 residents are lucky to see daylight for a couple of hours a day and temperatures can reach the minus 30s. However, this is not the reason I sense a darkening of the Finnish dream that brought me here six years ago.
In 2018, moving to Finland seemed like a no-brainer. One year earlier I had met my Finnish partner while working away in Oulu. My adopted home of Italy, where I had lived for 10 years, had recently elected a coalition government with the far-right Matteo Salvini as interior minister, while my native UK had voted for Brexit. Given Finland’s status as a beacon of progressive values, I boarded a plane, leaving my lecturing job and friends behind.
The current government, formed by Orpo’s National Coalition party (NCP) last year in coalition with the far-right Finns party, the Swedish People’s party of Finland and the Christian Democrats, has been described as “the most rightwing” Finland has ever seen – a position it appears to relish.
Deputy prime minister and finance minister Riikka Purra – the Finns’ party leader – has been linked to racist and sometimes violent comments made online back in 2008. The party’s xenophobia is clearly influencing policymaking and affecting migrants. As a foreigner, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to feeling a certain chill as anti-immigrant rhetoric ramps up.
In the US, you would need to start off by determining that the care was below standard before you can sue for malpractice. In the case of the dentist, it sounds like the dentist did what he was capable of doing; unless there were oral surgeons that were on-call, what would you reasonable expect? In the US, that wouldn’t be an emergency, because it’s not going to kill you to wait–in pain, admittedly–for 12 hours for an oral surgeon. I suspect you’d have a hard time winning a malpractice claim under US law. (Malpractice usually has to be pretty egregious to win.)
Sure, you can sue. But my guess is that most attorneys are going to look at that, and charge you, rather than working on contingency. That means that you pay up-front, rather than them taking a percentage of winnings. That’s what usually happens when they don’t think they’ll win.
That would be quite rare in the US. The overwhelming majority of police abuse cases are decided in favor of the police, and when they aren’t, someone is usually dead or permanently crippled. The financial payout is usually going to the survivors. Wrongful arrest? That’s usually met with a shrug. People regularly die in police custody in the US, and the police investigate and find themselves innocent.
Is it bullshit? Of course. Police should be trustworthy. Doctors should be trying to offer the highest standard of care at all time. Wealth and power shouldn’t play into any of that, and it’s despicable that it usually does. Is what Finland has still better than what the US has, and is likely to have (esp. if Trump ends up winning)? Absolutely. Would I emigrate to Finland if I had a job that was in-demand and thought there was any possibility I could learn Suomi fluently, even if it meant conscription? Absolutely, without hesitation.