Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Whether you realize it or not, you are an authoritarian statist.
Health care was never meant to be a collective concern with either government control or protectionism. Yet once we went from paying for our own care and elderly families care, to turning it over to Medicare and now Obamacare, it opens the door for collective societal decisions on an individuals right to literally survive.
Jimmy Carter (regardless how people feel about him politically) has contributed to this country his entire life.
He was not a leach/drain on it, and instead worked his entire life for the benefit of country, family, friends and strangers. If he wants to rack up a bazillion dollars in trying to survive, he has every right to.
What we as a society need to do is reduce costs through the free market system. I cannot tell you how often I have heard friends, relatives, and strangers talk about mistakes on their hospital/doctors bills, then when you suggest they call to get it straightened out, they say "who cares, the insurance is paying for it".
They also wouldn't take the time to shop around to see which local imaging center has the least expensive CT Scan or MRI, even if one at half the cost is just a few blocks further away. Yet, let a sale on Coke, beer, or a toaster over save them $3.00, they will drive across town to get it.
No, they do not want to be inconvenienced since someone else is perceptually footing the bill. What they fail to realize of course is that their selfish attitude helps to keep the cost of healthcare rising.
Yet when companies use systems like personal healthcare accounts in the form of funds into a separate medical account, then the employee must be an educated consumer. You bet they call or go online and inquire what the costs are, as they are saving their own money at that point. If we were to use a system on that basis, with insurance only for catastrophic coverage, it would make a huge difference in driving down the cost of healthcare in this country.
`
As a Canadian we have government run health insurance. When my mother in law got cancer the doctors suggested we not get treatment for her as the other serious health issues and the distance to travel each treatment would be extremely hard on her. The family discussed it amongst ourselves and that is what we agreed to do. If we wanted her to get the treatment , it would have been provided. When my father was dying he did not want to go into the hospital so the government provided health care in the home, a nurse everday and a helper for the menial services you get in the hospital and he died at home under government health care worker with the whole family in the home at the time. The idea that politicans or bureucrats make these descisions instead of the family and the health care providers seems like a silly one to those who have experienced government ran health care.
Waiting until the body totally breaks down before fixing it seems more expensive in the long run, most health care dollars are spent in your last years of life which just makes sense as that is when you are dying and needing the help regardless of your age,
My mother is near the age of Jimmy Carter and I think she would have a difficult time making the decision he did. It would be her decision with the advise of the health care workers and family input. A few years ago she would have easily decided to forgo the treatment as she was physically not as well as today and therefore not as mentally well either and was planning on dying soon. But the regular health care plus some help from the family turned her health right around and instead of going into a home to die she now still travels, and enjoys life again.
What would I do in his situation? I do not know as I am not in it. He has a much better understanding of his health and what the treatment will do for him than I do. I trust he made the right decision for himself and hope him the best of success. The idea that at 90 he should not be able to get the treatment sounds more like Sarah Palin's death panels she claimed as opposed to health care.
Seek expert advice, look carefully and with luck you may find a MD that will give you an honest answer based on your specific cancer and your over all medical condition. Many automatically go for the money.
Seek expert advice, look carefully and with luck you may find a MD that will give you an honest answer based on your specific cancer and your over all medical condition. Many automatically go for the money.
Not exactly …
Old School docs are trained to treat treat treat aggressively …
Allowing a patient to die peacefully naturally gracefully in dignity just isn't something they are trained or inclined to do ...
Old School docs are trained to treat treat treat aggressively …
Allowing a patient to die peacefully naturally gracefully in dignity just isn't something they are trained or inclined to do ...
This is more a consequence of the postulates of Western culture, than something specific to the medical profession. Setting aside cynicism about the medical industry maximizing how much money it extracts, or realism about fear of malpractice-suits if the proffered treatment comes to be deemed to be insufficient, there is, I think, a deeply-rooted drive to keep treating, to keep fighting against nature. Medical doctors, like all craftsmen, refuse to give up, refuse to accede to nature's demands. How many carpenters would say: "Your house is beyond repair; demolish it!". How many doctors would say: "Your body is beyond repair; settle your final affairs, and let go!"
Well, Americans in general just love to rail against -- and attempt to conquer -- nature in all its forms.
Yes … This irrational destructive notion shows up in our language -- "the WAR on cancer" … "conquering Mt. Everest" … etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yet, let a sale on Coke, beer, or a toaster over save them $3.00, they will drive across town to get it. 
