SDFlyer - glad you caught the tongue-in-cheek intent; both satire and satire's poor cousin sarcasm have some basis in truth and motivation to alter circumstances.
That said, the MD who's message was as you paraphrased observing the kind of teamwork and support which exists in the cockpit perhaps cites a much larger issue regarding resources than he intends, given the comparison of fatality rates in both professions.
If he is tired of the comparison with aviation perhaps an examination of why the comparison is being embraced by more and more medical professionals in terms of examining why fatality rates remain stubbornly high.
I hasten to add, as I have offered in other posts, that medicine is nowhere near the exacting and definitive enterprise that flying airplanes safely is and a team approach works generally more smoothly where the mix of human factors and mechanical responses is shifted further towards human factors in medicine. (Though the more I read what I write, the more I disagree with what I've written...)
Although time-compression is common between the two, one is dealing with the notion/concept/phenomenon of "diagnosis" which is in most cases either available but unrequited through lack of training, ability or perception, or in rare cases obscure until it is too late, while in the far more human enterprise of medicine I suspect the complexity and not the inability to assess/troubleshoot may mask original causes.
Agree with you on the cost relative to the GDP even at a possible prevention of perhaps 100,000 deaths per year in the U.S. for medicine. I'm bearing in mind that aviation isn't dealing with health issues either where some fatilities are inevitable due to disease and age - aviation's "patients" are almost 100% healthy.
This is a factor in aviation I know but if nothing else, "House" has at least made such a phenomenon more understandable...
BTW, in the early years I and I suspect many of us here flew with guys like House. I'll take CRM team work with a leadership component any day.
The automobile industry, which kills a B747-planeload of people about every 3 days in the U.S., is a different story and comparisons are difficult.
Big topics, all.