http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2772772Not quite aware of what he's saying, the crooked tale primitive (this is a news article the crooked tale primitive is quoting, not his own words):
The Straight Story (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 04:12 AM
Original message
Don't treat the old and unhealthy, say doctors
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.
Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone.
Smoker - Don't treat the old and unhealthy, say doctors
£1.7 billion is spent treating diseases caused by smoking, such as lung cancer and emphysema
Fertility treatment and "social" abortions are also on the list of procedures that many doctors say should not be funded by the state.
The findings of a survey conducted by Doctor magazine sparked a fierce row last night, with the British Medical Association and campaign groups describing the recommendations from family and hospital doctors as "outÂrageous" and "disgraceful".
About one in 10 hospitals already deny some surgery to obese patients and smokers, with restrictions most common in hospitals battling debt.
It's one of the larger bonfires on Skins's island right now.
Mythsaje (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 04:15 AM
Response to Original message
1. Hell, maybe they should just deny any operation to anyone who's over the average human lifespan for the region. They've lived a full life and the resources can be better spent on younger, healthier folks.
By the way, some weeks ago the legendary herb primitive, above, got demoted from being a first-tier primitive to being merely an
unterprimitiven.
SeattleGirl (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 04:24 AM
Response to Original message
4. On behalf of my mother, myself, and my family, I say:
**** YOU!!!
I'd like to see them make that same decision when it come to their own family member.
**** them to hell!!!
Lasher (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 04:27 AM
Response to Original message
5. Sounds like the 45-1 Retirement Plan
One 45 caliber bullet, right in the head.
FORREST GRUMP (80 posts) Sun Jan-27-08 02:00 PM
Response to Reply #5
35. when the hospital/doctor refuses treatment to my wife, that .45 won't be to my head!!!
countryjake (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 04:40 AM
Response to Original message
6. That old "bootstrap mentality" will soon seep into every aspect of our lives.
Blame the sick for getting ill, blame the hard workers for not working hard enough, or, like over here in our country, blame Americans for having the "American dream". I'm so sick of hearing how we all have to "own" the mistakes we've made in our lives and need to "pay the price" for our poor choices. This involuntary Do Not Resuscitate bullshit is killing us all.
TreasonousBastard (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 06:04 AM
Response to Original message
8. The kneejerkers aghast at this might note that...this is a british discussion about the limits of single-payer healthcare.
It is the sort of discussion that we have to have, too, since healthcare does not have infinite resources, and under single payer those resources could well be stretched thinner.
It's not simply about letting old people die, but about elective surgeries on 90-year olds just because someone will pay for it. It's about alcoholic baseball players getting one of the few livers available.
We now have medical technologies to extend life to where it could be argued life has no business being, and have to face the financial and ethical ramifications of heroic measures to keep the doomed alive for a few more weeks.
Didn't we already argue the principles of this a while back when a great Senatorial doctor diagnosed someone over TV?
melody (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 06:50 AM
Response to Reply #8
11. It's not about 90 year olds ... eventually it'll be about 12 year old poor kids
It's the way these monsters think. It's there in their writing -- "why care for the children of the poor?"
This just opens the door to it.
TreasonousBastard (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 07:11 AM
Response to Reply #11
16. That might be, but it's something to fight against. We still...have to work out ways to distribute limited resources. And we have to humanely decide what treatment is excessive.
melody (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 07:15 AM
Response to Reply #16
18. No, I think we have to find a way to drastically reduce the costs of medical care itself
Not the number of patients. And what may seem "humane" to a sociopath, wouldn't seem "humane" to his/her victims.
And on and on it goes, for a very long time, the primitives dancing around the campfire, inadvertently making the best arguments
against socialized medicine.
