Last time I mentioned the threat that Universal Healthcare poses to kids like Zoe, one commenter mentioned "I hope that the patient's rights and wishes will be number one in the medical staff's decisions. I have faith in Pres. Obama. He is a father and has overcome a lot in his life. I believe he truly cares about ALL Americans regardless of race, religion, or financial status."
Another said, "Do you think those 50 million deserve health care less than Zoe?
Do you think God wants them to have less then Zoe? How lucky Zoe is to be born in to a family where you have resources even if they are not perfect, but really do you think some people don't deserve health care? It sounds like You think the draconian decision should be against the 50 million who are not you."
Fast forward to today, and the current "stimulus" bill that will soon be adopted into law. One of the stimuli that will soon be law, according to this op/ed in Bloomberg, provides for "medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors."
My response: good to great. I observed physicans and nurses at the same hospital who weren't aware of what had happened in previous shifts or days or weeks. For sure, Zoe's pediatrician and the hospital sharing information would have been and would still be a great step forward.
But.
But then the bill goes on to establish a bureau to oversee those records. "One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions."
Dr. Frommelt told us that Zoe's surgery - performed with care in a private health care system - was the discussion of surgeons and ethicists. What now? What if the decision is put in the same hands of the government that allows for and funds abortion, including late-term abortions?
Appropriate and cost effective would be to let the little girl with the death sentence die. I'll break it to her when she wakes up from her nap. On, stimulus! On!
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Have you watched the documentary "Sicko"? It is worth watching and will open your eyes to the wonderful heathcare system that we currently have in our country.
ReplyDelete--A nurse
It is scary out there right now. I do think that things have to change, but we are really going to be on top of what happens.
ReplyDeleteI'd much rather my tax money go to Zoe than in many things that the government funs.
I believe that we can take care of our own. Our children, disabled, ill, elderly, and take care of them without having them live in poverty.
We just need to keep our values in mind.
That is my biggest fear with government funded medical care - the government will have guidelines as to what procedures can be done on people. I think the health care system needs fixing so that it is more affordable, but I don't want the government running it!
ReplyDeleteWe must not let the fate of our special, chosen babies lie in the hands of those that kill babies who they deem not fit for life.
ReplyDeleteI sure don't know what the answer is here, but until they can manage the managed care system as it is now, no more management will help, especially by the government!! Zoe is worth more than money.
ReplyDeleteWe personally pay out of pocket each month $1100 for our health insurance.
One of my husbands prescriptions for his glaucoma meds is $165 and the insurance would not cover it because it is pre-packaged in a 50 day supply and the insurance will only cover a 30 day supply. We have fought this for over a year now. Managed care! The pharmacist called personally on this after getting frustrated and was told by the insurance company that if the doctor instructed to "Discard after 30 days", they would cover it. WHAT??!!*! So, if we promise to throw away the last 20 days of the supply, waste it, they will cover it. What is wrong with these people. So now they cover it and we only pay the $20 co-pay. Are we discarding it after 30 days? NO!!
This is a tiny problem compared to Zoe's care and other urgent health matters, but look at how STUPIDLY our health care is being managed now and multiply the stupidity by thousands more. And, foot in mouth here, stop funding abortions with my tax dollars and we will be well on the way to providing more necessary coverage for those who really need it for LIFE. I am sorry to rant here Greg, but I am up to my hair follicles as a tax payer and having no say where it goes. I don't know how much farther my husbands paycheck can afford to pay for 50 million more people in need. In closing here, I don't trust the government to manage anything health related, based on their unmoral track record so far.
I love you guys and hope that our Zoe is doing great and getting healthier every day.
Love and Hugs, Laurie
Insurance companies already decide what procedures can be performed and which ones can't, what's the difference if they do it or if the government does it? How can you assume that the government would not allow treatments for children like Zoe? You can't.
ReplyDeleteAlso, at this moment abortion is still legal. Pro-choice people are not pro-abortion. Legal, safe and rare. If God didn't want abortions to be performed in certain circumstances, why would He have given those who developed the procedure the medical knowledge to do so? That same God is guiding the doctors who are treating Zoe. You would think that if God didn't want women to have the right to choose what happens to their own bodies, that He would have put a stop to it by now.
Okay, I have to chime in here, and remember we are sharing our opinions, that's what makes this world beautiful, that we can all harmoniously live together even if we disagree.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I am extremely hesitant about and anti any government run health care--yes something needs to be done--take it from a family that has struggled to afford health insurance, and been without many times because we are self employed,
yet I also know what happens to children like Zoe in government run plans. They start needing to weed out who get what care because of costs, so they are deciding what or whom is worthy of procedures, care, etc. So what lives and receives the care is what they deem more valuable, and productive. They get first dibs--a very slippery slope of true human worth.
I know of too many families in a government run health system like Canada, that have not had the opportunity to fight for their special needs child. One family had a do not resuscitate order placed on their child without their consent--in the UK it is just as bad--too many stories to write here.
If they are "suppose" to die anyway, then they won't get treated with any sort of dignity. Doctors, who more often than not are wrong, play God with peoples lives instead of the only true Author of life and them being the servant of that.
And while I appreciate Obama and what he went through, and overcame, I don't agree with the person that has faith in him. How can we say someone truly cares about ALL Americans when he allows more than half of them to be gotten rid of and doesn't believe it is his "place" to protect ALL life or when he doesn't feel it necessary to even protect a child that is alive from a botched abortion.
Plus here is a man that has his own children's interests at heart as far as wanting them to go to the best schools, and fortunately can afford that, but won't make this available for every child in America with vouchers.
Plus whenever we start putting our faith in a human being instead of the only place it can truly lie, with our Creator, we are surely headed for disappointment. Humans make mistakes, and extremely bad judgments at times, because they are human--our faith is better put in the Person we know will not let us fall. One person, and government is not what has sustained this great nation. It is the many resilient fighters/people that have created their own business, non-profits, organization that help others and simply the families that fight for each others worth as human beings that truly keep this world running. Government doesn't do that. People need to realize the inherent value and drive they are each capable of to change this world, and we create jobs, not government.
This blog entry is begging for my response.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter Annie died at the age of 80 days within 24 hours arrival at a prestigious hospital in Canada. A DNR was written without our knowledge or consent. Lethal, unauthorized quantities of narcotics were removed from the cabinet under Annie's name. The final computerized medication report is inexplicably missing.
Annie had trisomy 13. Unlike many poor children born with this condition, Annie did not have the common brain or heart defects and she could see and hear. She died of a genetic label.
To this day, we do not know what was wrong or why she could not be helped. The Coroner determined the care was "not appropriate" and told us to go complain at the medical board or start a law suit.
Well....in Canada, the life of a child with disabilities barely approaches the cost of a lawyer just getting warmed up.
The medical board would not take action because it is not the doctor's fault: it is a health policy. Our hospital has a "no treat, terminally sedate" policy for trisomy 13/18 kids who land in the ICU or NICU.
Here is a video of a father from Canada describing how the director of the NICU tried to kill his daughter with Trisomy 13. (She is now 7, walking independently, and quite happy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNzJt8fbavo&feature=related
Annie's story is at
www.anniefarlow.com
Things are worse in Canada....but it is changing in the US. We had NO CHOICE for life for Annie....even if we were willing to pay for all of the medical treatment ourselves. It was not an option because the whole time the doctors were pretending that they were "doing everything" and we believed that.
Kids with Trisomy 13 and 18 are at the forefront of the eugenics movement. It all starts with government policies based on quality of life.
Barb
What do you think drives this. It is not God. It is man's sin that he uses his knowledge to do things like this. God does not want us to murder at any level. Man also designed guns for killing.
ReplyDeleteLet's wait and see. The government is not the bogeyman (neither is it the messiah) - it's just an institution set up for the public good. Does it always follow my moral code? No, but I believe in it's potential for good.
ReplyDeleteWe've seen how other countries implement a public health system; some are done well, some not so well. But this is America where we have the most innovative, ingenious, creative minds and hard working hands in the world: surely we can make it work where others have failed.