Boy dies after cash-strapped Great Ormond St cancels op [UK health care alert]

The Sunday Telegraph (UK) ^ | May 22, 2005 | By Karyn Miller and Jamie Renwick

[armymarinemom]

I wonder how long the wait list was before the cancellations?

[socal_parrot]

it had treated more children than its budget allowed for.

NO CARE FOR YOU!!!

[poindexter]

Just wait until the malpractice lawsuit hits! Oh, wait, I forgot...under socialized medicine, there isn't any such thing as a malpractice lawsuit. Never mind....

[Balding_Eagle]

We are devastated. But that's life, isn't it?

No, that socialism.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Ain't socialized medicine great?

[Chode]

End-Stage Socialism...

[Tabi Katz]

Horrible story, very sad.

Does the UK allow private care for those who can afford it? Info appreciated.

[InvisibleChurch]

Sir Topham Hat and his nationalized health-care system.

[exDemMom]

But--but--I thought socialized medicine was supposed to guarantee needed healthcare to everyone, FREE! < /sarcasm >

[muawiyah]

Maybe they could have called in some of those kids and "untreated" them! You know, like rebreak their arms and legs, recreate lesions in their skin, transplant some cancer, buncha' stuff like that.

Although such an approach sounds ridiculous, you really never know what's going to work when you have socialized medicine.

[henderson field]

This is the health care system that Hillary Clinton wants to give us. Socialized medicine. For all the faults of the pay-it-yourself system (mostly healthcare costs driven up by unethical lawyers), nothing is worse than socialized medicine, and this is only one example.

[cspackler]

We are devastated. But that's life, isn't it?

These people have had way too much of the Kool-Aid.

Paging Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton, please pick up the red courtesy phone...

[Frank_2001]

Well, Hillary! knows...She knows everything/sarcasm off

[Turbopilot]

This is the system that will be foisted upon us if Hillary! gets elected in '08. It's one (bad) thing to let the welfare state siphon money from the productive. But literally killing people by preventing them from buying needed medical treatment is another game entirely. If this kind of system gets implemented here, people will die; the only question is who. During the American Revolution, patriots decided that it would be their oppressors. These days, I'm guessing the sheeple will take it themselves.

[mmercier]

>> But that's life, isn't it?

Apparently in England it is.

[Conservative Goddess]

The joys of Socialized medicine.

[nathanbedford]

In the politics of envy the very idea that society should apportion goods and services according to the amount of resources a willing buyer and seller are ready to allocate to them is unthinkable. In the neverland of socialism, the practitioners cannot abide the notion that society should select who should receive health care not according to how much the recipient is willing to sacrifice to get such care, but rather according to a higher set of values like, "compassion."

In Europe, the world is not according to Garp but according to any paradigm other than supply and demand. In this world of make believe and social justice, reality is merely a concept which can be altered by correct selection of vocabulary.

So, tacitly, the mother of a sick child is assured that, with this socialized health care program, the law of supply and demand can be repealed and a new law of "compassion" will protect and treat her child. She need no longer stand by impotently in envy while a rich child receives the care her child so desperately needs. What could be more fair, a poor sick child receives the same care as a rich kid?

The politician tells this desperate mother, empower me to allocate society's health care resources and I will protect your child from the harshness of the law of supply and demand. In fact, I will repeal this law of supply and demand and pass a new law protecting your child, a law universal free health care.

And another woman says, what about my mother, she has Alzheimer's and is incontinent and there is no one to care for her apart from me? I see that rich women need not change their mothers' diapers and wipe gruel from their chins. "And neither will you" soothes the politician, "let us tax that rich woman and I will lift the burden of your mother from you, you need only concern yourself about her on visiting days."

And a third woman says, "my neighbor who has no preschool children to care for goes to work and accumulates wealth daily to provide for her old age while I must stay at home and care for my child." The politician consoles, "merely permit me to tax her wages and I will provide you with both Kindergeld, a monthly stipend just because you have a child, and with a pension when you become aged."

"That's fair," replies the woman. "You have only to call upon me when you see any other unfairness in your life and I will fix it for you," assures the politician before departing for Brussels, "you need never be afflicted with envy again."

[commonasdirt]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Universal Health Care

[newzjunkey]

He may have died or not improved even with the surgery. It should be looked at carefully but we should not leap to any conclusions without more information.