[The Westerner]

Understood.

There’s one thing the last 50 years have shown to me: once the government enlarges itself by taking powers once held by private citizens those powers are lost forever. E.g., a surgeon opens a patient’s belly for hernia repair and discovers a diseased appendix. It was unheard of to sew the patient up while awaiting approval to excise the appendix. It was considered an unnecessary risk to operate twice. Not to mention double the cost. The unintended consequence is that surgeons and internists today are not as good diagnosticians because they only invite trouble by thinkng outside the box. I’m sorry you are dealing with VA. We will all soon get equally poor medical care. Socialized medicine kills.

[stylin19a]

thanks.
actually, I deal with V.A. by choice.
I guess I am one of the lucky one’s.
They have been very good to me.
Their Physicians are mostly staff & interns from Loyola Medicine.
I have no complaints.