Re: The Bull*** Parade

From: Bob (this one) (Bob_at_nospam.com)
Date: 08/09/04 

Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 15:30:28 -0400

fresh~horses wrote:
> "Happy Dog" <happydog@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<NiDRc.7241$Mq1.344313@news20.bellglobal.com>...
>
>>"Robert" <Robert@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>news:10hcvec6d7op1f@corp.supernews.com...
>>
>>>"Bob (this one)" <Bob@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>
>>
>>
>>>>Funny thing. I have family in Canada, some involved in medicine. I
>>>>know some others also involved. I know lots more who aren't medfolk.
>>>>They all together don't seem to be anywhere near as worked up about
>>>>their system as most Americans seem to be. They have the choice of
>>>>having the state system or paying for whatever else they'd prefer.
>
>
>
> Bob
>
> Explanation for the wait times is simple and short: Conservative
> government cutbacks to funding=longer waiting times=the conservative
> agenda: open private clinics. However, these private for profit
> clinics receive public fudning, thereby strangling the public system
> further, and skim off the best medical personnel. Often for-profit
> facilities are owned by former conservative party cabinet ministers
> and physician consortia.
>
> Zee

And yet, the infant mortality rate in Canada is lower than in the US.
Life expectancy in Canada is higher than the US.

There's a difference between waits for things like elective surgery
and life-threatening conditions. It's one thing to say it takes longer
in Canada and leave it there. It's quite another to say that it's on
the non-serious, non-painful conditions that the delays are longer.
And how much longer? It's generally an issue of convenience, not
medical necessity that most of the hubbub is about.

It seems to be more about immediate gratification than urgency of
remedy. I know a woman who waited 60 days for a tubal ligation in
Canada. I'm married to her. Another who waited about the same for
cataract surgery. In Toronto, I drove a friend who had a serious
bleeding fibroid condition to an ER and they made the people with
sprained ankles and back pain sit and wait while they took care of a
real problem. Triage happens in all medical facilities, and it should.

I'm not asserting superiority of one system over another. I am saying
that a bit of balance in the viewpoints would be good. And not have it
be *only* a political discussion. That whole business of labels for
liberal and conservative ideologies is meaningless nowadays. It has
become a situation where entire packages of ideas and notions are
dismissed out of hand from both extreme camps. The general foolishness
looks like this: If somebody is politically conservative, then they're
trying to take the food out of babies' mouths and they're only
thinking about their wallets. If they're politically liberal, they
want to redistribute all the money so everyone is equal and it's a
perpetual vacation on the backs os the rich. And it's all foolishness
constructed on the back of distortions and nasty interpretations of
good intent.

Rather than namecalling, have a cup of tea and consider the ideas at
hand. Does the populace feel that medical care and medical expenses
need to be adjusted somehow? Fine. Ask them for ideas. They're paying
for it, it's ostensibly *for* them. The vast preponderance of ideas
will be unworkable, inefficient, impractical or downright stupid.
There will be some that can make a difference.

If it's broke, fix it. If some parts work fine, don't fix them. If
some parts clearly work against the best interests of the
constituencies, fix them. But first, define what "broke" means. Define
what "works fine" means. Like all human institutions, there will never
be unanimous endorsement. Don't worry about the past and who messed it
up. Just fix it. Waits too long? If they really are, then some
modification of the system need to be implemented. Meds too expensive?
Same thing.

Nowadays, we seem only to delegate blame.

Bob