Mark Steyn: Unplugging Grandma isn't the problem

OC Register ^ | August 14, 2009 | Mark Steyn

[libstripper]

Some years ago, when I was a slip of a lad, I found myself commiserating with a distinguished American songwriter about the death of one of his colleagues. My 23-year old girlfriend found all the condolence talk a bit of a bummer and was anxious to cut to the chase and get outta there. "Well," she said breezily. "He had a good innings. He was 85."

"That's easy for you to say," he said. "I'm 84."

[Gritty]

BTW, Social Security is on the bankrupt list next year. What do you suppose the elite are going to do with that?

That's simple. They'll "means test" the benefits and scr*w the "rich" - that's anybody who collects another pension - by cutting benefits on an offsetting basis.

[GOPJ]

We’re living longer, healthier lives (due to our current healthcare) but I doubt that will be taken into consideration by the pile of statistics they use to determine “end of life”.

People who don't get the medical care they need usually become depressed and "give up". That has a profound effect on their health. So I suspect we won't be "living longer, healthier lives" under the new system.

How would you feel if at the age of 55 you lost the ability to walk because you needed a knee replacement and had to wait on a list until you were 60 to get it? Depressed is an understatement.

[kabar]

BTW, Social Security is on the bankrupt list next year. What do you suppose the elite are going to do with that?

The same they did in 1983 when SS went into the red, i.e., raise taxes and decrease benefits, including raising the retirement age for full benefits from 65 to 67.

SUMMARY of P.L. 98-21, (H.R. 1900) Social Security Amendments of 1983-Signed on April 20, 1983

[super7man]

Thank you for your thoughts.

I also want to be at home, surrounded by people I love. My father-in-law’s extra time did not appear to me to be of much value. But again it was his call.

[Polybius]

However; there was something very un-natural about his last 5 months when the doctors said that there was nothing more that they could do. They kept him alive for 5 months by giving weekly blood transfusions. He was in incredible pain, could not get around, had horrible rashes, had zero antibodies so he could not go anywhere. But the whole thing was his call, even though he knew it was only buying a few extra weeks. It was also torture on the family to see him go this way. This experience has been a lesson for me. When I’m 85, I do not intend to linger in pain without dignity.

Many points can be debated about the wisdom of your father-in-law's choice but he certainly did not live those 5 last months "without dignity".

"Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.

The record shows I took the blows -
And did it MY way!"

[super7man]

Thanks for your thoughts. Perhaps dignity was the wrong word to use. His whole life he had been an athlete and active until near the end (Former NY Giant). It was just that the things about himself that he valued so much were slowly stripped away, leaving only the soul in the end. Maybe he needed to get to just the soul to be ready to face God. I guess there is dignity in that.

[Polybius]

Our 11 yo daughter has cancer and is due for radiation therapy next week. At our initial visit with the Radiation Oncologist, I was surprised to meet a French Canadian. I asked him what brought him here and he responded that he couldn’t practice in Canada in good faith. His patients have to wait so long for his services that the tumors are frequently too advanced to treat.

BINGO!

And that saves the Canadian Government bean counters a ton of money.

Look at the tragic death of British actress Natasha Richardson (the wife of the actor that played Oskar Schindler on "Schindler's List") from an epidural hematoma after a fall on a Quebec sky slope. After the 911 call was made, it took several hours to get her to a Trauma Center with neurosurgical capabilities. By then, it was far too late to save her life.

Why?

Because, in order to save the bean counters money, the province of Quebec lacks a medical helicopter system.

When treated in time by a neurosurgen, an epidural hematoma is very easy to treat with a burr hole (Trepanation). Trepanation has been done for centuries. (See the trepanation scene in the movie "Master and Commander".)

Yet, in Quebec, such an injury can be a death sentence if you are on a ski slope because the Province of Quebec bean counters have decided that burying dead patients costs far less money than having a helicopter service that delivers salvageable patients to a Level I Trauma Center in Montreal.

Doctor: Lack of medical helicopter cost Natasha Richardson .... The province of Quebec lacks a medical helicopter system, common in the United States and other parts of Canada, to airlift stricken patients to major trauma centers. Montreal's top head trauma doctor said Friday that may have played a role in Richardson's death. "It's impossible for me to comment specifically about her case, but what I could say is ... driving to Mont Tremblant from the city (Montreal) is a 2½-hour trip, and the closest trauma center is in the city. Our system isn't set up for traumas and doesn't match what's available in other Canadian cities, let alone in the States," said Tarek Razek, director of trauma services for the McGill University Health Centre, which represents six of Montreal's hospitals

[Rummyfan]

The problem with government health systems is not that they pull the plug on Grandma. It's that Grandma has a hell of a time getting plugged in in the first place. The only way to "control costs" is to restrict access to treatment, and the easiest people to deny treatment to are the oldsters.

Mark Steyn Thank You!!!!

[Rummyfan]

The problem with government health systems is not that they pull the plug on Grandma. It's that Grandma has a hell of a time getting plugged in in the first place. The only way to "control costs" is to restrict access to treatment, and the easiest people to deny treatment to are the oldsters.

Mark Steyn Thank You!!!!

[TChad]

This is a GREAT POINT:

"Which brings us to the United States and its allegedly worst health system in the developed world. Here's the reality: The longer you live in America, the longer you live..."

"...if you can make it out of diapers, you'll live longer than you would pretty much anywhere else. By age 40, Americans' life expectancy has caught up with Britons'. By 60, it equals Germany's. At the age of 80, Americans have greater life expectancy than Swedes."