Stinks to Be You: Health Care and the Utilitarian Calculus

Should the “greatest good for the greatest number” be the guiding principle behind health care?

As I have said before on Breakpoint, much of the hype and even hysteria surrounding the H1N1 flu strain is unwarranted.

That’s not to say that the swine flu’s potential impact isn’t devastating—it is, but not in the way cable news would have us think.

And now the Florida Department of Health has issued a set of guidelines that instructs hospitals on what to do “if the state is overwhelmed by [H1N1] cases.”

The guidelines recommend that hospitals bar “patients with incurable cancer, end-stage multiple sclerosis and other conditions from being admitted to hospitals.” Another “recommendation” is that doctors “remove patients with poor prognoses from ventilators to treat those who have better chances of surviving.”

To facilitate this culling of the herd, the guidelines “suggest” that “intensive care unit patients and those using ventilators to be reassessed after 48 to 72 hours.” Those who have gotten sicker “would be taken off the machines or discharged from critical care” and replaced by those “who may have a better chance of survival.”

Not surprisingly, the Department of Health has not “publicized the guidelines or solicited input from the general public.” Not a bad strategy, given that Florida is packed with elderly retirees who may be less than thrilled by the news that the state proposes to make it easier to deny them emergency medical care.

Superficially, the guidelines resemble what on the battlefield is called triage. But that resemblance is just that—superficial. On a battlefield or in an emergency, medical personnel make agonizing decisions about whom they can and cannot save. No one is excluded before the actual emergency.

Here, the distinction is between those they will and will not save. It’s designating, in advance, those groups whom are regarded as expendable. And, as ethicist Wesley J. Smith pointed out, removing people from ventilators goes beyond triage principles to “indiscriminate rationing.”

Actually, there’s nothing indiscriminate about it. In a drill for a similar set of guidelines in Utah, a physician told a mother that her daughter with cerebral palsy could not be admitted to the hospital. He told her that “our list is our list.”

That’s why Smith is rightly concerned that guidelines like Florida’s could easily degenerate into judgments about the quality of life, age discrimination, and disabilities.

The triage consistent with Christian moral principles acknowledges that you try to save everyone, even if you can’t. But what Florida is proposing is a utilitarian calculation that seeks to do, in their words, “the greatest good for the greatest number,” by excluding the most vulnerable members of society. That’s the utilitarian formulation which led to the horrors of eugenics.

Christianity teaches that all life is sacred from conception to natural death. Florida, however, has already decided that some lives aren’t worth saving even if natural death is years away.

So enjoy your retirement while you can. But you really need to understand this issue. Please go to the Colson Center and click on my Two-Minute Warning for this week. It’s on the home page. And then download the free materials off it. Your life my depend on it—literally.

(Also, for additional info. and related articles on this important topic, click the article link at the top of this post and scroll to the bottom of the orginal article)

Actually, they pull this crap on a regular basis (for lots of interesting stuff on the push for a swine flu panic, click link at boottom):

April 30th, 2009 at 11:15 am

Hi, Everybody – Since Swine Flu hysteria has taken hold, I thought some perspective would be useful.

Here’s an abbreviated list of our U.S. CDC heroically proclaiming and combating killer epidemics:

1) Legionnaire’s Disease; A bacterial pneumonia that accounts for about 3% of all pneumonias in the U.S. Nothing new – just a big gathering of elderly Legionnaires in several hotels having yucky A/C systems with lots of the bacteria.

2) Hantavirus: Supposed to sweep the country, spread by mouse feces. I guess having 50 cent mouse traps and pet cats have warded off this disaster.

3) Mad Cow; Supposedly in meat, and passed to humans from diseased cattle having abnormal “prions” (don’t ask, it’s not worth it). Most certainly all created by organophosphate neuro-toxic chemicals topically applied to cattle to ward off parasites.

4) AIDS; Currently the U.S. has 50+ times AIDS cases and deaths than all other western countries, a little secret the nation’s press won’t publish. Deaths due to lethal antivirals and antiretroviral drugs given those having tests yielding “hiv” antibodies – even though the antibodies are not specific — . Abundant studies showing those not taking the antiretrovirals live to normal life expectancy (assuming they stop shooting up heroin, whiffing amyl nitrites, etc.). Current annual U.S. AIDS deaths 15,000; Canada 28; Germany 73, on and on. Do your own math, it’s worth it.

5) Hepatitis C; Currently about 8 thousand Americans die each year from this. How could they not die?- as they are given toxic medicines that are kissing cousins (ribavirin, for instance) of the antiretroviral AZT. (AZT is now almost totally dropped, but it killed 550,000 Americans having “hiv” antibodies. Look it up).

6) Human Papilloma Virus = cervical cancer; Drug company trials biased beyond control, FDA in on the fix; Gardasil vaccine rammed through; school systems bullied into required vaccinations. Result from vaccinations: 25+ dead; tens of thousands serious and paralytic reactions to the Gardasil – ongoing every day.

7) Autism or Asbergers/Austism Syndrome: A perfect timeline of autistic and similar syndrome cases rising catastrophically and exponentially along with the exponential increase of vaccinations, now up to 17 “diseases” and with shots totaling over 50 (many in combination). Little wonder with all the toxic elements in all vaccines, and being injected via bloodstream at fragile infant ages – as opposed to normal immune protections developed via respiratory/gastrointestinal routes (allowing extremely competent success in lifelong immunity). The CDC blesses all vaccinations, want even more! And now, Swine flu redux! Vaccinate!

8.) SARS: Virtually all who died in 2003 (the grand total of 775 around the world: comprising Canada with 43, All of Europe with 1, the USA with zero, Southeast Asia – Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. with 730), died from the drug ribavirin given in huge doses, and well known to immediately destroy red blood cells – called hemolytic anemia – “Ooops! the patient died!” Never an actual virus identified, but a corona virus was prime suspect, have to blame some virus, after all. Once ribavirin was dropped from treatment protocols, mortality dropped toward zero. Surprise! U.S. zero mortality perfectly aligned with decision of U.S. Health authorities to NOT use ribavirin.

9) Ebola: Still and always used to stir Fear. Realistically, it’s Hollywood bullshit.

10) Bird Flu Pandemic Hysteria Promotion: More accurately, should be called science fiction. Majority of U.S. and Europe 1918-1919 deaths directly brought by 3-4 new vaccines (smallpox, dyphtheria, typhoid, measles) newly brewed, and mandated to all the military, with millions of civilians joining in. Result: fierce, deadly septicemias and toxic reactions to these vaccines. Death tolls in China and India exaggerated 10-fold. Nothing like propaganda, even more so today. Real science available – ignored by the hysteria mongers, particularly CDC.

11) Tah – Daahhh! It’s 2009. And, now Swine Flu! Let’s see, a 2 year-old from Mexico, comes to Brownsville Texas, gets sick, taken to Houston Hospital April 13, dies 2 weeks later, blamed on Swine Flu. I can imagine the different, lethal antiviral drugs she was given. If anybody is interested, just google “tamiflu toxicity”. This absurd, deadly drug is an “antiviral” that the insane authorities are sending by the tens of millions doses around the country.

Let’s review: In 1976, a single soldier died at Ft. Dix allegedly from Swine Flu, with maybe up to 500 others “infected” but all healthy thereafter. Since 25,000 soldiers and civilians made up Ft. Dix, and only 500 became infected from the reallllllllly infectious swine flu virus, why didn’t the other 24,500 get infected? One death from pneumonia. Really deadly, this Swine Flu. And, by the way, there were no “antiviral” or “antiretroviral” drugs at that time – thus no soldiers were poisoned to death, yet blamed on a virus.

CDC should stand for “Centers for Disease Concoction” — or maybe more accurately, “Concocting Disease Clowns,” or most accurately, “Concocting Disease Criminals.”

Have a good day!, your medical reporter, located in the shadow of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s NIAID, Cervantes

http://www.scienceguardian.com/blog/remunerative-to-some-ah1n1-flu-hysteria-goes-global.htm

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