Posted on 03/21/2009 6:45:53 AM PDT by vadum
I don’t know. There’s a lot of “static” in this particular communication, because some people are talking about Natasha Richardson specifically, while others are talking about the Canadian health care system in general, and only one appears to be saying that people should be forced to accept medical treatment against their stated wishes.
Actually I think most support unlimited free health care. LOL, Now how do you get there!!
“But the larger question: how many people does Canada’s Universal Health Care Kill???”
That’s a good question because medical statistics won’t necessarily show us a clearcut advantage of the U.S. system. How do you measure unecessary pain, suffering and further medical deterioration (and many times death) when you receive rationed care? You can’t. Stopping such an uncaring system depends on using these unfortunate examples to drive home the fact that rationed care is inferior care.
Just like most support free Porsches in every driveway.
Well, the article fails to make another point. Why do you need a helicopter to take you to a hospital in Montreal? Because the hospital in Quebec is a loser.
The hospital system in Canada is short of basic stuff that we take for granted in American hospitals. I don’t think they have a CAT scanner in the local hospital, and I think there is a long waiting list to have a scan done anywhere.
So, I’d agree that basically she died because she refused medical help. But if she had accepted medical help she probably would have died anyway, because they would have taken her in an ambulance to the local hospital where it is apparently doubtful that anyone would have caught what the problem was in time to fix it.
It would take a sharp doctor to detect the aneurysm, and there would be no way to immediately confirm that that was the problem without just going ahead with the treatment.
Exactly. Accidents happen and that’s part of life.
Don't we all support unlimited free *everything*, in our dreams? And then we wake up and find it just isn't going to happen. (I'm not going to look like Catherine Zeta-Jones, either, no matter how much I spend on makeup.)
The best plan we've got is individual decision making, registered by individual payment.
The question has been answered several times. Her family , mother etc were in New York. That moving her to NY provided an opportunity to say good bye. Also the couple lived in Millbrook, N.Y. I believe she was buried there.
You’re right. There’s no way to have unlimited free everything. We can have rationing by price, which allows people to determine what they value and pay for it, or we can have rationing by government order (and government incompetence, which reduces the total amount of *whatever* that is available). Either way, nobody’s going to get everything they want all the time, and nobody’s going to live forever.
Every human being - whether citizen or not - has an inalienable right to a free house exactly identical to that of the President of the United States.
P-ss on the victim’’ comes to ‘’health care’’.
All is know is that two children no longer have a mom, a husband no longer has his wife and a mom has to bury her daughter....sad all the way around....
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Yes, a tragedy - who knows the real story and if it could have been prevented or not. I honestly thought the autopsy findings would show an aneurysm or something of the sort, given the initial reports. But as another poster acknowledged, head injuries are tricky.
Anyone who has been through a sudden tragedy knows what the family will endure in the upcoming weeks...my deepest sympathies to them.
“Short answer, it contributed, no doubt about it. “
She refused treatment multiple times. Hardly something you can blame on any system of medical care.
Well, if you were in Canada and you went to your doctor, he would schedule your emergency evaluation visit for March 2010. If any care is required, you’ll have to wait until April 2011. That much we do know.
... and the FIRST hospital did nit have a CT scan. The SECOND hospital, 2 1/2 hours away, did.
I hate socialized medicine, but an ambulance arrived and they were not allowed to even see her, let alone treat her. No matter what type of health care system you have, that kind of behavior is not going to help you.
One difference I may have missed in the preceding exchange was that in the U.S. if the operator of a ski resort refused aid via medivac of some type - it would be liable for injuries suffered by the injured party. I thought most major ski resorts were prepared for first class medical treatment as skiing has its victims.
So, rather than socialized medicine - corporate medical care which can be involved in lawsuits MAY SAVE MORE LIVES - even if their focus is upon less than Florence Nightingale objectives.
I have injured my head in a face first fall on a cement garage floor...but because I broke my right shoulder, I didn’t not seek attention for the head and neck injury but for the more painful shoulder break...a decision resulting in months of headaches and whiplash I suffered after. Stupid me. I was truly fortunate I did not have a brain bleed.
I will know better if there is a next time for me. I pray I will never have to apply the knowledge.
I am by birth a Canadian and lived under the socialist system of medical care. I now live with the U.S. system legally - by choice and common sense - as we grow older we realize our needs become mandatory if we are to survive our gradual decline in comfort and reasonably good health.
Socialism and medicine are not a healthy combination no matter how the proponents scream it.
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