The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: CC27 on June 18, 2019, 08:55:02 AM
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marble falls (23,142 posts)
Survivor's Guilt ....
I am fortunate, I am blessed. I have single payer, national health care. It is an "unintended consequence" of my wanting to be able to express my antiwar opinions at the dinner table by enlisting in Navy in in Feb '72 two years after my exposure to the lottery.
When I got out of the navy, I got a job at the Brecksville VA hospital. The first day home from work I asked my wife that no matter what that I would never end up in a VA hospital.
Insurance was no problem: at that time every employer offered some sort of health insurance.
Years later, not so much.
I was at fifty-five suddenly without insurance and my wife started the paperwork for me to go to VA. I went because I do know the power dynamics in our home unit. And I knew she'd see how bad it was and that would be the end of it.
In 2012 I had a minor, ignorable sort of symptom of something. No pain, but an occasional dribble of blood in my urine. As soon as I had noticed it several times, I went to VA. It turned out to be bladder cancer.
Five surgeries to remove tumors, one partial excision of my colon, two rounds of BCG (which has a very high rate of success but not for me) and a biopsy later: I still have that cancer.
The biopsy determined that the cancer is not going to be responsive to either chemo or radiation but hadn't broached the wall of the badder.
The theory is that if the cancer is only in the bladder then .....
And so here I am going for at least one more very serious surgery tomorrow.
What my mixed feeling are about are: there's been a lot of money spent to keep me going (has to be close to a million) and I do worry about how many small children could be in a program for wellness with what VA has spent on on this one old man. About how many people much more productive than me are dying over inability to come up with insurance premiums and I am living because I wanted to eat Turkey at Thanksgiving and tell my dad how wrong he was about the war. About a President who is operating contrary to the interests of the majority and even against the interests of his average joe MAGA hat supporter.
No matter what happens there's a terrible killing problem with healthcare in this country but not for me.
Survivor's guilt.
See you all in a week or so.
MFalls.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212198406
You're a POS.
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Sure does seem to be a lot of them dying lately.
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Oh now, bobsal from Baby DU, marble falls from Skins's island, is signaling his virtue by expressing his "survivor's guilt."
Survivor guilt is a mental condition that occurs when a person believes they have done something wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not, often feeling self-guilt.
I could never understand this myself, and alas it appears prominent among survivors of combat in wars.
Despite that most like to think otherwise, life is random chance, outside of our control.
One just rolls with the punches.
Of course the opposite has happened too, but in this life there's been many times I've been extraordinarily lucky while just about everybody else hasn't. Since such luck was just by chance, I never felt guilty about it.
To me, "survivor's guilt" would be valid only in those instances where one purposely and deliberately manipulates things that save one's own life at the cost of others' lives.
Purposely and deliberately.
If it happens by sheer chance or accident, no need for any sense of guilt.
But some people, primitives, want to feel badly no matter what.
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Should I have survivor's guilt? I've had a benign brain tumor removed and a heart attack with angioplasty and stent deployment, both mostly paid by the insurance from my employer. Ditto three children being born, my wife also having a benign brain tumor removed, etc.. And if we think a doctor and/or hospital is providing inadequate care, we can go elsewhere without issues. Unlike at some VA hospitals, we have never waited for more than 2 weeks for major (or minor) tests or surgery.
Doubtless some VA hospitals provide great care - and others not so much - but it isn't unique when it is excellent.
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Sure does seem to be a lot of them dying lately.
Silver lining in every cloud.
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This DUmmie says the VA is no good, the dem party line is (if you ask Sen. Tammy Baldwin among others) there is nothing wrong with the VA. Which is it?
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Silver lining in every cloud.
not really. They still keep on voting even after they die...
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Where I work we all have health insurance. Most of us do.
One of my co-workers age 55 had a medical emergency at work. I'm the company EMT so I was involved. Did what I was trained to do and at the time we loaded him in the ambulance he was still talking but he tanked on the way to the hospital.
I have heard rumors that he had a complete blockage and thus suffered a infarction. It's a real shame and I feel terrible but my co-worker would have had a much better chance of survival if he didn't smoke and if he had visited his primary care doc every now and then. This would have been picked up and possibly treated but now it's too late.
My point is there are no guarantees in life and yes we are responsible to take advantage of the health care we are entitled to. Of course it was his decision to neglect his health but in the end some things are out of our hands. An individual can be 100% healthy on the way to work and be dead the next minute because some jerk on crack ran a stop sign.
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Should I have survivor's guilt? I've had a benign brain tumor removed and a heart attack with angioplasty and stent deployment, both mostly paid by the insurance from my employer. Ditto three children being born, my wife also having a benign brain tumor removed, etc.. And if we think a doctor and/or hospital is providing inadequate care, we can go elsewhere without issues. Unlike at some VA hospitals, we have never waited for more than 2 weeks for major (or minor) tests or surgery.
Doubtless some VA hospitals provide great care - and others not so much - but it isn't unique when it is excellent.
Unfortunately it isn't unique when they are incompetent boobs either. Stay away from the Huntington WV VA. They tried 3 times to kill my dad and were so incompetent they could even do that right. Then they tried to cut off his foot cause he had a shattered ankle.
I am not a fan of the VA.
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While I feel bad for this dummy only a fool would think that a retired individual on social security and medicare or one using the VA health care system will get top care. Like they really think that the main concern of the government run health care system is to dish out expensive long term treatment to this poor soul who is collecting, no longer paying in.
The government wants you off entitlements and dead as soon and young as possible and a great way to do that is let some dude who brags about the high quality government care he gets for free or low cost keep just a few of those cancer cells. Hope he has some life insurance but probably doesn't.
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Oh now, bobsal from Baby DU, marble falls from Skins's island, is signaling his virtue by expressing his "survivor's guilt."
I could never understand this myself, and alas it appears prominent among survivors of combat in wars.
Despite that most like to think otherwise, life is random chance, outside of our control.
One just rolls with the punches.
Of course the opposite has happened too, but in this life there's been many times I've been extraordinarily lucky while just about everybody else hasn't. Since such luck was just by chance, I never felt guilty about it.
To me, "survivor's guilt" would be valid only in those instances where one purposely and deliberately manipulates things that save one's own life at the cost of others' lives.
Purposely and deliberately.
If it happens by sheer chance or accident, no need for any sense of guilt.
But some people, primitives, want to feel badly no matter what.
I share your view, but then I'm not an emo trainwreck who exalts empathy above everything else.
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Sure does seem to be a lot of them dying lately.
Not enough
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Not enough
Despite not having Government-run-healthcare-for all. Weird.
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Sure does seem to be a lot of them dying lately.
Obviously Trump's fault.
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Not enough
And not fast enough.
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The Smug is strong in this one.