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A 22-year-old alcoholic has died after being refused a life-saving liver transplant because he was too ill to leave hospital and prove he could stay sober.
Gary with his mother just days before he died. Pic: The Sunday Times
Gary Reinbach, who died in hospital on Monday from a severe case of liver cirrhosis, did not qualify for a donor liver under strict NHS rules.
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Coming soon, to a health care system near you!
Presently our government swears up and down that this will never happen. ALL patients who need treatment, will get it.
But how long will that last, once costs start to rise? (Have you ever seen ANY government program where costs didn't start rising, and quickly?)
And when they do, and people finally start calling their Congressmen and refusing to support all the new taxes the government says they need, what then?
How long will it be before government starts deciding, that in extreme cases where people's own behavior has caused the damage to their bodies, that they can no longer pay to fix it?
And people look around, and find that there are no longer any alternatives, because private practitioners have been unable to compete with tax-money-subsidized "Universal Health Care" that penalizes people for going outside the system, and have gone out of business?
....and how many people die here in the US because of having no insurance, or because their insurance company found a way to deny payment of their treatment?
Posting this article to somehow slam socialized medicine is bulls**t, at best.
Last edited by EnjoyTheSilence; 07-20-2009 at 08:27 PM..
There already is a thread about this on here. Please look at it and you will find one California transplant center's criteria for accepting a patient for a liver transplant.
A 22-year-old alcoholic has died after being refused a life-saving liver transplant because he was too ill to leave hospital and prove he could stay sober.
Gary with his mother just days before he died. Pic: The Sunday Times
Gary Reinbach, who died in hospital on Monday from a severe case of liver cirrhosis, did not qualify for a donor liver under strict NHS rules.
---------------------------------------
Coming soon, to a health care system near you!
Presently our government swears up and down that this will never happen. ALL patients who need treatment, will get it.
But how long will that last, once costs start to rise? (Have you ever seen ANY government program where costs didn't start rising, and quickly?)
And when they do, and people finally start calling their Congressmen and refusing to support all the new taxes the government says they need, what then?
How long will it be before government starts deciding, that in extreme cases where people's own behavior has caused the damage to their bodies, that they can no longer pay to fix it?
And people look around, and find that there are no longer any alternatives, because private practitioners have been unable to compete with tax-money-subsidized "Universal Health Care" that penalizes people for going outside the system, and have gone out of business?
OK now you have read the sensational post..here are the FACTS about this case.
Gary Reinbach was refused a liver transplant after HE refused to stop his drinking. He had cirrhosis of the Liver caused by extreme alcoholism. He was offered a transplant on condition that he stopped drinking as it would be futile to give him a new Liver if he continued abusing it. The rule is that if you make a honest attempt to stop drinking you will be given a transplant. The decision was his. He knew that if he didn't stop drinking he would not get a transplant. He point blank refused to stop drinking so the offer of a transplant was removed so that the Liver could be used on someone who also needed this valuable liver and would be prepared to take the medication required and not abuse the new liver.
Liver transplants are performed on alcoholics all the time in the UK but livers are valuable to many who need the transplant and it would be wrong to deny someone a liver in favour of someone who needs it because of self inflicted problems and with absolutely no desire to keep his new liver healthy or possibly not be in a state to take the anti rejection drugs.
The truth is far from what was trying to be implied here.
The exact thing would happen here even if he had insurance, he would be refused because people who are drinkers are not allowed on the transplant list.
Pure lies and sensationalism oh and a little fear mongering.
OK now you have read the sensational post..here are the FACTS about this case.
Gary Reinbach was refused a liver transplant after HE refused to stop his drinking. He had cirrhosis of the Liver caused by extreme alcoholism. He was offered a transplant on condition that he stopped drinking as it would be futile to give him a new Liver if he continued abusing it. The rule is that if you make a honest attempt to stop drinking you will be given a transplant. The decision was his. He knew that if he didn't stop drinking he would not get a transplant. He point blank refused to stop drinking so the offer of a transplant was removed so that the Liver could be used on someone who also needed this valuable liver and would be prepared to take the medication required and not abuse the new liver.
Liver transplants are performed on alcoholics all the time in the UK but livers are valuable to many who need the transplant and it would be wrong to deny someone a liver in favour of someone who needs it because of self inflicted problems and with absolutely no desire to keep his new liver healthy or possibly not be in a state to take the anti rejection drugs.
The truth is far from what was trying to be implied here.
Geeoro, if this had happened in the US, Mr. Reinbach would have just been labeled as one of those "poor decision makers" for not quitting alcohol. As if a private insurer over here would have picked up the tab for a self-inflicted illness like this (not that I don't sympathise with this man, but that's how a private insurer would view it). In other words, the double standards of some of the people here on CD are quite staggering. I cannot believe that someone would purposely use this particular case to bash universal healthcare and use it to scare people away from it.
The exact thing would happen here even if he had insurance, he would be refused because people who are drinkers are not allowed on the transplant list.
Pure lies and sensationalism oh and a little fear mongering.
OK now you have read the sensational post..here are the FACTS about this case.
Gary Reinbach was refused a liver transplant after HE refused to stop his drinking. He had cirrhosis of the Liver caused by extreme alcoholism. He was offered a transplant on condition that he stopped drinking as it would be futile to give him a new Liver if he continued abusing it. The rule is that if you make a honest attempt to stop drinking you will be given a transplant. The decision was his. He knew that if he didn't stop drinking he would not get a transplant. He point blank refused to stop drinking so the offer of a transplant was removed so that the Liver could be used on someone who also needed this valuable liver and would be prepared to take the medication required and not abuse the new liver.
Liver transplants are performed on alcoholics all the time in the UK but livers are valuable to many who need the transplant and it would be wrong to deny someone a liver in favour of someone who needs it because of self inflicted problems and with absolutely no desire to keep his new liver healthy or possibly not be in a state to take the anti rejection drugs.
The truth is far from what was trying to be implied here.
Oh Geeoro, stop blowing the cover off these folks.
I got $20 the OP doesn't came back to this thread after this smacking around he just took.
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