Posted on 04/12/2013 12:51:14 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Drunks injured in booze-fueled brawls should be charged for their NHS treatment, Nick Clegg said today. The Deputy Prime Minister revealed he backed the idea of imposing levies on people who get “completely blind drunk and get themselves into a scrap”.
An estimated two million visits are made to A&E every year for alcohol-related illnesses and injuries. Experts say the cost of alcohol to the NHS exceeds £3 billion ($4.6 billion) per year. …
Clegg admitted some town and city centers have become “no-go areas” in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. He said it was unacceptable for the taxpayer to pick up the bill for the National Health Service to treat drunk patients whose injuries are self-inflicted.
Clegg said: “I’ve actually got quite a lot of sympathy with the basic principle that says, ‘Why should someone that goes out and gets completely blind drunk, behaves appallingly, gets themselves into trouble and a scrap—why should other people always have to pick up the tab to help them out?’” …
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Wow, it’s that bad here? I must have missed it. I think a lot of conservatives in The States believe too much of the doomsayers fables about The UK. There are drunk idiots in every country, and cost healthcare providers (public and private) millions.
.....”There are drunk idiots in every country, and cost healthcare providers (public and private) millions.”...
We have them here too, their called “illegal aliens” or “un-documented workers” (take your pick) over here in the U.S.
What does he expect?
His government bends hand over foot to coddle the no-goods from cradle to grave for anything from schooling, food, housing, medical, etc., and NOW they get moralistic on how these people while away their time?
You reap what you sow.
Almost all of the drunken idiots I have come across were not illegals. Illegals are bad for us for a myriad of reasons, but we have plenty of our own drunken idiots.
No argument with that either.
Either they wont pay, or they will steal to pay the bill, or more likely, they will pay the bill with entitlement funds received from the government. That is neither a punishment nor a deterrent.
The solution is to arrest them for public intoxication & MAKE them do MANY hours of SOBER community service.
Monetary fines & restitution are inherently discriminatory against the poor & favor the rich. A monetary fine for misdemeanor behavior takes food off the plate of poor children, while it is a mere slap on the wrist for the rich. It does nothing in either case to change bad behavior - drunkenness, traffic violations, etc.
OTOH, community service - cleaning public areas - is an equal deterrent to the poor & rich alike. Both will pay in something of equal value to all - time. Both will receive a necessary dose of humility & real sense that they have done wrong & have paid a price for that wrong. Both will have HOURS to consider their error.
Drunken yobs should be repay...
I’ll have another!
But if they are arrested, the police have a responsibility to see to their injuries. That just adds more hours of community service to their sentence, IMO.
Again, any money you get from these bums will either come from their victims or out of the public pocket.
A fine gets their attention for a few minutes, but 100 hours of picking up garbage gets their attention for 100 hours.
If you have ever done it, & I have, you DON'T want to do it again, & I haven't! Lesson learned!
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it (booze, drugs) yet again.People like that are fond of calling it “self-medication”.
I can’t quote Scripture, but that sounds about right.
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.