There's No Place Like Home: What I learned from my wife's month in the British medical system.

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal ^ | June 8, 2005 | David Asman

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"Mr. Asman, could you come down to the gym? Your wife appears to be having a small problem." In typical British understatement, this was the first word I received of my wife's stroke.

We had arrived in London the night before for a two-week vacation. We spent the day sightseeing and were planning to go to the theater. I decided to take a nap, but my wife wanted to get in a workout in the hotel's gym before theater. Little did either of us know that a tiny blood clot had developed in her leg on the flight to London and was quietly working its way up to her heart. Her workout on the Stairmaster pumped the clot right through a too-porous wall in the heart on a direct path to the right side of her brain.

Hurrying down to the gym, I suspected that whatever the "small" problem was, we might still have time to make the play. Instead, our lives were about to change fundamentally, and we were both about to experience firsthand the inner workings of British health care.

We spent almost a full month in a British public hospital. We also arranged for a complex medical procedure to be done in one of the few remaining private hospitals in Britain. My wife then spent about three weeks recuperating in a New York City hospital as an inpatient and has since used another city hospital for physical therapy as an outpatient. We thus have had a chance to sample the health diet available under two very different systems of health care. Neither system is without its faults and advantages. To paraphrase Thomas Sowell, there are no solutions to modern health care problems, only trade-offs. What follows is a sampling of those tradeoffs as we viewed them firsthand.

[investigateworld]

But do all the machines go "Ping!"

[FreedomCalls]

This rates as one of those definite "read-the-whole-thing" posts! Read the whole thing.

[goodnesswins]

I read it all....fascinating, and very worth it!

[LauraleeBraswell]

This was a great article.

[texasbluebell]

Little did either of us know that a tiny blood clot had developed in her leg on the flight to London and was quietly working its way up to her heart.

Is this written by the Fox anchor?

Thanks for posting. That reminds me that I should take an aspirin tonight, since I'm flying tomorrow.

With that phone I began making about a thousand dollars worth of trans-Atlantic calls, the first of which was to the world-renowned cardiologist Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, who I'm lucky enough to have as my GP.

I think I answered my question, yes, he's the Fox anchor, since Dr. Rosenfeld is also one of the Fox regulars.

As for the quality of British health care, advocates of socialized medicine point out that while the British system may not be as rich as U.S. heath care, no patient is turned away. To which I would respond that my wife's one roommate at Cornell University Hospital in New York was an uninsured homeless woman, who shared the same spectacular view of the East River and was receiving about the same quality of health care as my wife. Uninsured Americans are not left on the street to die.

Should be emphasized.

[zeaal]

This is FOXNEWS' David Asman

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1160,00.html

[wizardoz]

I am never. Leaving. This country. Again. Ever. No matter what.

[McGavin999]

I think more Americans need to find out about this.

I'm glad to hear that FOX stood by him and helped he and his wife thorough this.

[spinestein]

["Free health care" is a mantra that one hears all the time from advocates of the British system. But British health care is not "free." I mentioned the cost of living in London, which is twice as high for almost any good or service as prices in Manhattan. Folks like to blame an overvalued pound (or undervalued dollar). But that only explains about 30% of the extra cost. A far larger part of those extra costs come in the hidden value-added taxes--which can add up to 40% when you combine costs to consumers and producers. And with salaries tending to be about 20% lower in England than they are here, the purchasing power of Brits must be close to what we would define as the poverty level. The enormous costs of socialized medicine explain at least some of this disparity in the standard of living.]


If the "Universal Health Care" dingbats get their way, we're going to be living with this higher cost/lower standard of living ourselves.

It amazes me that there are still so many people who insist that what the government "provides" to its citizens "for free" doesn't cost anything.

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[mother22wife21]

Now that was a good way to end the evening. What an excellent composition. Will look for more of his writings.

[hattend]

bump

[Maigrey]

Bumpus Maximum for a gut-wrenching article.

And he's also my favorite achor on FNC, along with Neil Cavuto.

[texasbluebell]

Will look for more of his writings.

Just look for him on Fox News, noon to 1 pm, ET, I believe.

[ishabibble]

Mr. Asman has made the strange journey through the world of modern medical technology. Anyone who has gone through it knows that it is nothing less than "falling down the rabbit hole".

"Star Wars" technology for the price of American dollars. Not Euroes. Not pesos. COLD HARD AMERICAN GREENBACKS. That is absolutely the bottom line. If you are an American, your chances of surviving anything is greatly enhanced by your citizenship. You can pay, and if you can't, well just call the American consulate wherever your own personal hsit storm happens.

Della Reese and Quincy Jones are just two of the thousands of people all over the world who went to London, Ontario to see the world's greatest brain surgeon. We took our mother to see this very great and humble doctor. First order of business, a 25K binder for services, since we were not Canadians. We paid. Mom got spectacular care. Her three roomies also paid and got the same care, but did not survive. Hence, what is missing from Mr. Asman's article is the sense that it is a battle back from behind the 8 ball.
My mother made it. Many did not.

My mother lived for 14 yrs. after her surgery. She was a vegetable, and totally dependent on nursing home care. When the Terri Schiavo case unfolded, I was heartened to learn that I truly believe that my Mother would have fought to the last for her life, as we, her children did.

It is not bitterness or regret that makes me say that after thinking back on my Mom's life, thanks to Terri, I say:

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...

[iopscusa]

I am amazed that so many Americans seem not to realize that Socialized "Free" Healthcare is nothing more than an expressway to an early death and not just to the patients!

[RJL]

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