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Friday, November 25, 2011

Brain Surgery: A Decision between a Woman and Her Doctor?

Remember when abortion was described as a decision "between a woman and her doctor?" How come that same rationale doesn't apply to a decision about brain surgery being a decision between a patient and his neurosurgeon?

Listen to this exchange on Mark Levin's show by someone who says he's a neurosurgeon just back from a consultation in Washington, D.C. on the standards for brain surgery on patients over 70. If he's who he says he is, grandparents are in for a rocky ride under Obamacare. The death panels are coming. Here's an excerpt from the transcript:
Caller: Basically what the document stated was that if you were over 70 and you’d come into an emergency room and you’re on government supported health care, that you’d get “comfort care”.

Mark Levin: Wait a minute…what’s the source for this?
Caller: This is Obama’s new health care plan for advanced neurosurgical care.

Mark Levin: And who issued this? HHS?

Caller: Yes. And basically they don’t call them patients, they call them units. And instead of – they call it “ethics panels” or “ethics committees”, would get together and meet and decide where the money would go for hospitals, and basically for patients over 70 years of age, that advanced neurosurgical care was not generally indicated.
Mark Levin: So it’s generally going to be denied?
Caller: Yes, absolutely. …If someone comes in at 70 years of age with a bleed in their brain, I can promise you I’m not going to get a bunch of administrators together on an ethics panel at 2 in the morning to decide that I’m OK to do surgery.

9 comments:

  1. and what do you think you get now if your part of 38% of Americans who have been left too poor by the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush economic legacy to afford private health insurance?

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  2. So death panels and health care rationing are okay with you as long as it happens to everybody? I thought we were all supposed to get better care. Did I miss something?

    Can I assume you have no problem with a bureaucrat making policy on whether your mom gets treated? Do you think Michelle's mom will be denied surgery if her brain is swelling after a stroke?

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  3. @anon - the facts are that no one in this country goes without health care. No one! See any sick people flopping about on the streets?

    The high costs of health insurance is driven by government mandates, inability to purchase across state-lines (otherwise known as lack of competition - also government driven), and insurance being tied to employment.

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  4. Now Mary Ann, that is not what I said, and a woman of truth should not distort what other people say but I suppose you find justification for your endorsement of the economic privitazation introduced by President Reagan and maintaned by the next three administrations in Luke 16:21. The economic philosophy that that has ruled (and ruined) this country is fundamentally unChristian and contrary to the economic theology taught by Blessed John Paul II as "Solidarity" as well as Blessed John XXIII in Mater et Magistra and Paul VI in his encyclical on the Development of People.

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  5. Hey, Anon., I'm just asking questions. Frankly, I'm not sure what your point was. It would help if you explained it. But how is government running health care any cheaper than private companies? How many new IRS agenst are authorized by Obamacare?

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  6. I think that the point is that a Godly government provides for the needs of the people and puts into place policies that benefit the people and not businesses. There is a difference in thought between those who believe that health care is a right and those who think it is a privilege. And it is absolutely wrong, Adrienne, that no one in this country goes without health care! People go without or choose between food and medicine every single day. There are many, many sick people "flopping about on the streets."

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  7. Do you think we have a "godly government," Mary? Isn't it possible, even likely, that government health care will be worse than the current situation?

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  8. It seems to me that it is a false dichotomy between Godly government that benefits people and some non-Godly government that benefits businesses.

    1. Businesses are people
    2. There is no such thing as "Godly government" -- historical instances that claimed to be were what the people who came to the new world were fleeing from.
    3. Bureaucrats are essentially functionaries that put a drag on the efficient delivery of any good or service so it will always be more expensive and less effective when run by government.
    4. Health care is not a right or a privilege. It is a service which costs the one who delivers it effort (we'll simply transform all effort into money as a fungible substitute). If you can't afford it you can only get it by the charity of others and some degree of charity is the duty of all human beings.
    5. Government is a lousy way to deliver charity because government has no charity.

    If you want tyranny just go down this path and you'll have it rather quickly. I might add that one established there will be no further advance in medical technology because there will no longer be an incentive to produce such advances.

    The whole idea simply doesn't fly. It doesn't even begin to stumble around. People who don't understand how the world works shouldn't be listened to, at least not for very long. It rots the mind.

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  9. Ray Schneider says: 4. Health care is not a right or a privilege. It is a service which costs the one who delivers it effort (we'll simply transform all effort into money as a fungible substitute). If you can't afford it you can only get it by the charity of others and some degree of charity is the duty of all human beings.
    5. Government is a lousy way to deliver charity because government has no charity.


    6. Not only does government have no charity, it is a destroyer of charity. The Catholic Church -- the greatest powerhouse of charity in human history -- is having to pull out of various charitable endeavors in our own country because of government mandates that promote inherent evils such as gay "marriage," abortion and contraception. When the Catholic hospitals all close down, thereby making healthcare for the poor even harder to come by, we can thank the Obama administration.

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