I know a lady from Germany who lives here in the US. Her 85 year old mother was visiting from Germany. This is an otherwise healthy woman who was very active. Now the mom had some chest pain in Germany and they gave her nitroglycerin and told her that was all they could do for her because of her age. While in America mom starts having chest pain and is taken to a local ER where within 24 hours she has triple bypass done.
Guess what? My friend’s mom lived 10 more years with a high quality of life.
This is the issue with socialist medicine.
I would offer this assessment....having lived in Germany for a fairly long period.
Some hospitals are noted to have a highly significant infection rate (I know it’s a stupid thing to admit in the modern era). I have three noted hospitals within a 30-min drive of my house, and one is fairly well known now for getting infections, which lead onto serious life-and-death situations.
So you have the tendency of both patients and doctors...to assess the necessity of operations, and if it’s not better to avoid being in a hospital (as silly as it sounds).
Me? I’ve actually told the wife if I’m ever in an accident and the ambulance comes...she must ensure they don’t carry me to the particular hospital with the higher rate of infection.