Over the weekend, I was at a fundraiser for our local Valley Republican Women's Club. While there, I had the opportunity to speak to a fellow member about her experiences working in a doctor's office. Already, hearing her story, I can see the death panels have begun.
She was explaining that the physician she works for is not able to get the seasonal flu vaccine, which is normally offered every year, for her patients. Because of the overwhelming production of the H1N1 vaccine, her office has neither vaccine available. This physician treats elderly patients whom she feels benefit most from the seasonal flu vaccine. But because so much time, energy, and money is being put toward production of the H1N1 vaccine by our government, she has NO vaccine to offer her patients. Seasonal flu vaccine production is all but non-existent and H1N1 vaccines are horribly behind schedule. Her elderly patients and her at-risk patients have no protection from the seasonal flu to which they are so vulnerable, and no one has the H1N1 vaccine yet.
If a population of elderly and in-firmed individuals in these United States is not able to get the care they need (i.e. protection from the seasonal flu by vaccination), is this not the end result of a "death panel?" Was it not our government that decided to "pull out all the stops" and overwhelm our vaccine manufacturers with orders and production requests for the H1N1 vaccine? Our government opted to treat one population over another. Mind you, supposedly the most vulnerable population in the H1N1 "hysteria" are the young and typically healthy among us. The death panels have already begun - those typically protected (the elderly and in-firmed) are not being protected now.
So, the government says, why not take it to the next level? In this article, you will see the government's strategy for handling a worst case scenario situation regarding a pandemic. It's frightening, and it's wrong. And again, we want this government to run our healthcare. The only thing keeping them in check right now is the private sector. If government run healthcare becomes a reality, where will it end? Where will be the checks and balances?
Please read this article from the New Yorks Times: Worst Case: Choosing Who Survives in a Flu Epidemic
"But some health professionals question whether the draft guidelines are fair, effective, ethical, and even remotely feasible."
I know I'm questioning it - Are you?
1 comments:
My Aunt, a retired nurse who lives here in the valley, was told yesterday that she is not allowed to have an H1N1 vaccine because she is over 65 and it needs to be saved for younger people! Sarah is right, and people who choose to ignore it are blind.
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