Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Life and Death (but mostly death) and the MVNHS©

An acquaintance of ours is a paramedic who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Despite a weakened immune system and the effects of chemo, she continues to work as many days as she can. She's just that dedicated. We understand that this is not atypical - these are folks who really care and are committed to serving others.

Lucky for her, she's not subject (yet) to the vagaries of the Much Vaunted National Health System©:

"David Smith spent much of his working life as an ambulanceman, saving lives by administering basic first aid as patients were being rushed to their nearest hospital.

But when he suffered a heart attack and needed the urgent attention of the NHS himself, paramedics had to drive him to a hospital half an hour away ... because his local [Accident and Emergency facility] had closed."

His widow ascribes his death to the delay.

Now, that might seem a bit of a stretch - after all, how much difference could a 30 minute ambulance ride make? But here's "the rest of the story:" it took 37 minutes for the crew to arrive after her 999 [9-1-1] call. It seems pretty likely that 67 minutes, when someone's had a heart attack, is pretty egregious.

But of course, that's life (or death) under government-run healthcare - and what we have to look forward to as the ObamaTax is fully implemented.

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