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When its children who suffer the most? As a healthcare professional, I was reading an interesting blog. As a peds nurse I see many children who can't this or that done because there is no funding or they get rejected by insurance companies,meanwhile an elderly person who is 98 and on a ventilator ,and non responsive(brain dead) is getting her 5th. Hip surgery? Isn't that hip surgery unessesary at this point,meanwhile a child of 5 who is alert and has muscular dystrophy gets denied a wheelchair (and medicaid insurance) when they have a better prognosis than the elderly client? Or an elderly client who gets social security on top of getting a 3000 dollar pension and free medicare but we deny medicaid to the child who has cancer because the parents make 2000 a month? Tell me your opinions please
You sound like you have read too much from Zeke Emanuel. It is ok, though, since as a 77 year old who got all the expensive kind of stuff you don't want to see us get at 72, I can allow all your crap. I am very close to being one of those old people who can't contribute anything to society that I hear people from the left in our administration talk about so I take your words to heart.
It's something that's rather tricky to discuss. Especially because many of today's elderly (say roughly those who are 85+) are members of the greatest generation. To openly say that we should cut benefits for the elderly is frequently seen as blasphemous. Do we just strip them of their benefits and leave them to fend for themselves? I don't know.
However, I will say that I mostly agree with you. Honestly, just seeing many of those are who 75+ makes me think if people were even intended to live this long. Yes, it's great that society has progressed such that the average life-expectancy is far higher than it was 100, or even 50 years ago. Obviously though, this comes with the added cost that past a certain age, many people simply become a burden on society. And the more that medicine and health practices advance, the longer people will continue to live...and the more it will cost to keep them propped up, especially as our population continues to grow. Like many social programs, it's simply unsustainable in the long run.
So, there's my unprofessional, blasphemous opinion.
I was scheduled to have a sonogram on my carotid artery tomorrow but since it costs money and I am past your age of 75 I will call and tell them I am too old to be wasting their time and will then go out on the highway and lie down in front of a semi-truck. The damned fool driver would probably try to miss and wreck his rig so maybe I better sit around a think of a better way to take my life. I am a coward about suicide since I know a man who managed to blow off his jaw and cheekbone along with that side of his face but did a poor job and had to live for years without what he blew away.
When do you think the death panels will be in effect? Maybe they can take care of my problem.
I guess because I see it from another end. For example,the 90 year old who falls because she has dementia and keeps breaking her hips and needs surgey like 5 times a year? Or the 100 year old who is on a vent and has end stage cancer who is getting knee surgery,and whose family doesn't want a dnr on her and wants her life saved at all costs?(a full code)
Your biggest problem is that you are using single examples as if they fit all old people. It is ok because even an old person like me can understand your reasoning and can make allowances for you.
I was scheduled to have a sonogram on my carotid artery tomorrow but since it costs money and I am past your age of 75 I will call and tell them I am too old to be wasting their time and will then go out on the highway and lie down in front of a semi-truck. The damned fool driver would probably try to miss and wreck his rig so maybe I better sit around a think of a better way to take my life. I am a coward about suicide since I know a man who managed to blow off his jaw and cheekbone along with that side of his face but did a poor job and had to live for years without what he blew away.
When do you think the death panels will be in effect? Maybe they can take care of my problem.
Luckily, Roy, all patients' overall state of health is taken into account when considering medical intervention. In other words, if a patient is simply too medically fragile to reasonably be expected to survive a surgery, of course none will be performed.
The only death panels in existence are conducted by insurance companies, who make their exorbitant profits by denying care for patients. Physicians are often up in arms about wanting to provide care for their patients, yet are told certain procedures will not be covered.
They are the ones who are usually responsible for setting age requirements and limits....not Obama, not your doctor.
I guess because I see it from another end. For example,the 90 year old who falls because she has dementia and keeps breaking her hips and needs surgey like 5 times a year? Or the 100 year old who is on a vent and has end stage cancer who is getting knee surgery,and whose family doesn't want a dnr on her and wants her life saved at all costs?(a full code)
Do you want to kill them?
Are you a "death panel" supporter?
Your post indicates that you think that one human can be more valuable than another. I don't feel that way. Who am I or anyone else to make that decision? Are you willing to let someone else make that decision about you?
When does a person become less valuable in your eyes? That's the salient question.
I do feel that people should be able to end their lives with dignity and respect. Unfortunately the laws of most states disagree with this.
As I recall from the health care discussions (I won't say debate) in this folder, a large number of people were against a doctor talking with people about end of life decisions and choices.
In your original post, you mentioned that insurance companies won't fund things; that's on the insurance companies.
Last edited by chielgirl; 04-20-2010 at 11:08 AM..
usually old people have money for these things or their children have the disposable income, and aren't using insurance, or the insurance agency is one that will make a case by case desicion in favor of the old person.
the newborn is usually from an unwed mother who has never sought treatment before plopping down in a bed, she's done drugs for years and now the baby's all f'ed up.
she didn't apply for medicaid so she has no coverage, and she lost her job cause she tried to seduce her last boss.
I guess you could say the same thing about why we don't put a value to society i deciding who gets healthcare really. Who is more valuable;the unborn for example or the juvenilke deliquent that has dropped out of school and has a hiustory of selling vehilces and a member of a gang.Then was Einstein more valueable at a elderly age than any teenager? But thern i disagree with the OP and just hope she/he isn't working at a hospital near me.
usually old people have money for these things or their children have the disposable income, and aren't using insurance, or the insurance agency is one that will make a case by case desicion in favor of the old person.
the newborn is usually from an unwed mother who has never sought treatment before plopping down in a bed, she's done drugs for years and now the baby's all f'ed up.
she didn't apply for medicaid so she has no coverage, and she lost her job cause she tried to seduce her last boss.
make sense?
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
The vast majority of elderly patients are dependent on their Medicare coverage for care. The ones that, for whatever reason, do not have full Medicare coverage and need either Home Health care or Skilled Nursing Home care post-discharge and are not approved simply go without.
As far as newborn/NICU care is concerned, the vast majority of those infants are born to married women.
The ones who don't typically fit that mold are very young mothers (but hey, isn't every embryo sacred? ) whose bodies simply could not properly carry a healthy baby to term.
Others are of advanced maternal age (over 35 at time of delivery), and those babies are at much higher risk of congenital birth defects.
Still others are born too early, too ill, or too damaged simply because of unknown familial genetics from both mother and father.
The ones suffering from maternal drug abuse are very low on that list when taking all cases into account.
I certainly don't think kids are getting the shaft. We are saving the lives of preemies and sick babies that would have routinely died in the not so distant past. And if you want to talk about "iffy" situations ask yourself how much is being spent keeping alive some of them who need lifelong care, sometimes round the clock, and will never be productive members of society...and what happens once their parents (usually the primary caregivers) die. There is no way to think about it and not feel dirty when you wonder if it's all worth it or not. Never mind the hoard of "learning disabled", which often accompanies life saving at birth measures, being dumped into the school system who's resources are already stretched thin.
Last edited by Ceece; 04-20-2010 at 12:13 PM..
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) whose bodies simply could not properly carry a healthy baby to term. 
