Halloween’s over, but there are still some scary things out there.

Take the survey released yesterday by the Physicians’ Foundation. According to Reuters:

Primary care doctors in the United States feel overworked and nearly half plan to either cut back on how many patients they see or quit medicine entirely, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

And 60 percent of 12,000 general practice physicians found they would not recommend medicine as a career.

“The whole thing has spun out of control. I plan to retire early even though I still love seeing patients. The process has just become too burdensome,” the Physicians’ Foundation, which conducted the survey, quoted one of the doctors as saying.

This just reinforces the reality that Americans are slowly coming to recognize: While we swim in a sea of specialists, there aren’t nearly enough primary care doctors to go around—and there are fewer every day.

Here’s a little personal experience for you: I began looking for a primary care physician in August. I called around and found that most doctors in my area aren’t taking new patients. When I finally did find one who was, I was told that the first new patient appointment I could get was last Monday—Nov. 10, for those of you without a calendar nearby.

That’s three months for an appointment.

But what could I do? The only other option was a walk-in clinic—not exactly where you want to have your preventative care done.

Here are some of the other findings from the 12,000 answers provided:

You probably heard about the school collapse in Haiti a couple of weeks ago.

But did you know that the school collapse was the just the latest in a series of disasters to befall the island nation?

Consider this CNN article that reports on the worldwide food shortage and uses Haiti as an example.

Most mothers, the writer says, choose what their children will eat.

Mothers in Haiti choose which of their children will eat.

The ones who eat stand a chance—albeit small—at survival.

The ones who don’t ... well, their mothers make the choice to sacrifice them so that the rest may be able to live.

Can you imagine such a situation?

Can you imagine looking into the eyes of two or three of your children, knowing that they are starving, and making the decision not to feed them?

Read the story from CNN. We’ve talked a lot about oil and gas distribution this year, as the price of crude oil spiked to record levels this summer.

If only people would pay as much attention to the fact that there are millions of people—millions of children, alone—literally starving to death throughout the world.

I think about this kind of thing when I see stories on TV about the excesses of Hollywood, the high fashion, the things that are available on Rodeo Drive, the $500 bottles of wine, the expensive spa treatments, the dinners that run into the thousands of dollars, the $23 million murals bought and paid for with aid that is supposed to go to feed these hungry people ...

... when people in Haiti are eating dirt cakes that they’ve baked in the sun.

One hunger aid agency estimates that somewhere in the world, a child dies of hunger every six seconds.

That’s 300 children during your favorite sitcom.

How is it that the rich nations of the world can tolerate, can stomach this unimaginable horror?

It’s World Hunger Relief Week.

What can—what will -- you do to help?