Posted on 07/25/2009 10:28:25 AM PDT by wagglebee
Ezekiel Emanuel, one of President Obama’s premier health care advisers–and the brother of his chief of staff–insists that rationing based on age isn’t invidious discrimination. Oh no? Check out this story from Sweden that illustrates how wrong he is. From the story:
An 83-year-old woman from Östergötland in southern Sweden was forced to pay for back surgery out of her own pocket after doctors at her local public hospital told her she was too old for the treatment. “Without the operation, I might have lived another five years in incredible pain. But what kind of life is that?” Marianne Skogh told the Östgöta Correspondenten newspaper.
Skogh has suffered from pain and numbness in her legs since 2004. After waiting for more than a year to see a specialist in the public health system [my emphasis], Skogh was finally told that the pain was likely to do problems in her back. Doctors told her she suffered from spinal stenosis, a disease that involves a narrowing of one or more areas in the back. The narrowing puts pressure on the spinal cord or on the nerves that branch out from the compressed areas, often causing cramping, pain or numbness. But despite the lengthy wait for the diagnosis, Skogh was then told that, even though the ailment was treatable [my emphasis, again], she was too old for the surgery.
It wasn’t that she was too frail to handle the surgery–obviously–it was because they thought she was too old to be worth the expended resources. In other words, she was denied optimal care by her own doctor who placed his or her loyalty to “society” over the medical needs of his own patients.
If this is how you think we should treat our senior citizens who have given their country so much over so many years–not to mention people with serious disabilities, expensive chronic and terminal illnesses, etc.–you will support Obamacare. If not, you won’t.
Pro-Life Ping
Freepmail wagglebee or DirtyHarryY2K to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
I’ve seen some Obama trolls slithering around FreeRepublic lately. Watch for some newbies posting “No no no! This isn’t the way it will be!”
I have noticed that a lot of long-time FReepers no longer deny that we are on a slippery slope and that the “right” to die is about to become a mandatory duty.
Over ten years ago I witnessed a young (under 30) PA excitedly tell everyone within earshot that her parents had joined what was then known as the Hemlock Society. This was at a fundraiser for cancer research. Everyone within earshot was in their 40s and either a medical professional or related to one. Everyone reacted positively or was silent.
I was in my mid-50s at the time. Today, I find myself wondering if the living will envy the dead, if this comes to pass.
I always found it ironic that they even used the name “Hemlock Society.” They chose the name because hemlock was what Socrates took to die; however, Socrates was FORCED to take hemlock as a method of EXECUTION, it WAS NOT voluntary.
Ping!
It is unbelievable they call this healthcare.....
.....It's not about care, it's about money and power.
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.