Operation on Baby RB would not help, doctor tells life-support hearing
Consultant says even with a tracheostomy, child would 'lead sad and pitiful existence' on artificial ventilator for life
A severely disabled baby boy at the centre of a life or death legal dispute between his parents is living "on a knife edge" and would not benefit from an operation to help him breathe, his leading consultant told the high court today.
Baby RB's father has asked a specialist to assess next weekend whether a tracheostomy – creating an opening in the neck to deliver air to the lungs – would allow him to be taken off his hospital ventilator and returned home.
But Dr F, a consultant in paediatric intensive care, told Mr Justice McFarlane today that the little boy was "not a candidate" for tracheostomy.
He would still be dependent on artificial ventilation and, should it become necessary to withdraw the breathing tube in an emergency, he would suffer far greater distress than if he were in hospital on a life support machine.
Dr F said the case of Baby RB was very unusual because he had been on life support since within an hour of his birth on 10 October last year. In most other cases of such severity, parents decided that life support should be withdrawn and, with palliative care, the child died, he said.
Doctors caring for the boy, who are backed by his mother, are asking the judge to rule that his ventilator should be switched off "in his best interests". They say he will lead a "miserable, sad and pitiful existence", even if surgery allows him to be returned home to one of his estranged parents.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Death Panel
I know we are all just a bunch of unhinged lunatics for believing that Nationalized Healthcare would, inevitably, lead to "Death Panels", but ...
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This case has got nothing whatsoever to do with "socialized medicine" - except in the US the parents would have been bankrupted by now - or anything at all to do with "Death Panels".
A blatent misrepresentation of a very difficult situation.
Right, because it's ok for Drs. to make these kinds of decisions, right?
I know a 30 year old woman who had a brain aneurysm last year. Her mother told me the Drs. told her that her daughter was going to be a vegetable, lying in a hospital bed for the rest of her life.
I didn't talk to the woman (the mother) for four months. When I called her to ask how her daughter was, she said her daughter had come home, was walking on her own (like normal) and was beginning to learn how to talk again.
Drs. had given her up as a vegetable, someone on whom the plug ought to be pulled.
Ray, what do you know? You live in a fishtank, and you're telling me about oxygen.
"Bankrupted".
Yeah, that's true. However, do you know that the kind of "bankrupted" you are talking about includes being able to own your home, your business, and your transportation?
You don't know America.
Keep telling me about oxygen, Ray. I love to hear the stories. It reminds me of when Muslims tell me about how women are more free under Islam.
Here's a question to ask yourself;
If Healthcare is a right, then why is it that food is not a right?
After all, we need food even more than we need healthcare, right?
Now, here's something else for you to ponder (and I've told you this before, but you seem to forget), EVERYONE IN AMERICA CAN GET FREE HEALTHCARE AT ANY TIME,
ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM.
IN AMERICA, EVEN ILLEGAL ALIENS GET FREE HEALTHCARE,
so, why is it we need Government-arbitrated/mandated healthcare, then?
Hmm?
The Emergency Room may be too late. The cancer may have spread too far. Early treatment/diagnosis is not an emergency but is nonetheless an essential.
I am not arguing for/against healthcare for the US, no point. What I am saying that this baby case is not straightforward.
The NHS is not saying the plug should be pulled, the mother is. The father wants the child to be supported because the brain is normal at 1 year. Many of these children go on to lead almost normal lives. NHS Deathpanels, as I said do not come into it.
You know I will jump in when UK issues are seen incorrectly, that's what I'm here for!! LOL
This is a case of a Dr. making a decision/argument that a plug ought to be pulled.
That's none of the Drs. business.
We have the same problem here, this is not merely a UK problem. Drs. pull the same shit here, as do Hospital Staff.
The problem is, however, only exacerbated by nationalized healthcare.
You say that problem has nothing to do with the NHS.
Who does the Dr. work for?
"The NHS is not saying the plug should be pulled, the mother is."
That is the fact of the matter.
Look, before the NHS healthcare depended on charity for the poor, the rich of course could afford to pay.
We have had the NHS for 72 years. We pay for it via our National "Insurance" Contributions during our working life.
We like it, we want it and it is the solution for a civilised country. End of.
So when are you going to start paying for each other's food via National Food Insurance?
Think about it, Ray. Food is even more vital than healthcare. So, why not start with food?
You only believe this is rational because you have grown up in it.
That's why I made the comment about you being a fish talking about oxygen. You seem to have no idea that things ought to be different.
You won't even bother to answer my question about food, because you don't understand how to two topics relate.
You like that someone else pays for your healthcare (presumbaly, you are not one of the top earners in your country, and neither am I ,by the way, so that is no putdown), and why shouldn't you like that someone else is paying for it?
Now, it makes sense to pay for healthcare for those who absolutely can't afford it, like older people on retirement and Social Security, or people who are disabled in one way or another. But, it doesn't make sense to pay for the healthcare of people who are able-bodied. They ought to take care of themselves.
The price of Freedom is having to take care of oneself and not expecting others to take care of you. It's like when you moved out of your parents house. You had to pay your bills.
But, more and more, our societies in the Western World are deciding that we will pay each others bills.
This is making us whiny teenagers again, and that whiny teenage mentality is weakening us and making us more susceptible to the Jihad.
THIS IS, BY THE WAY, THE REASON I WRITE ABOUT BARACK OBAMA.
Because his policy ideas will weaken our resolve, make us a less flexible nation, and ultimately weaken our economy, making us weaker militarily as well.
As has been evidenced before, you don't seem to care much that America becomes weaker militarily. After all, why should this nation, with only 4-5% of the world's population, have so much power? Who cares about the fact that we keep the sea lanes open for free trade? Who cares about the fact that Russia is simulating nuclear warfare against POland? Who cares about the fact that Obama is dropping our allies and cozying up to Socialist thugs? Obama fucks with Brown? Who cares? What does it matter?
Who needs America anyway?
At least someone pays for our healthcare.
"So when are you going to start paying for each other's food via National Food Insurance"
That's just an absurd notion. We are talking about healthcare here. You don't like it we do, so stop knocking our system and let your people die.
I don't come in here knocking the US, except Obama of course. I have never said anything about Obama weakening the US, don't have that knowledge yet, but it seems to be going that way. No, it's not a good thing.
Do read the posts properly, i already said I paid for my healthcare during my working life. You said:
"You like that someone else pays for your healthcare (presumbaly, you are not one of the top earners in your country, and neither am I ,by the way, so that is no putdown), and why shouldn't you like that someone else is paying for it?"
I don't come in here for pointless discussion that just goes round in circles, without the points I make being read.
Ray,
You said: That's just an absurd notion. We are talking about healthcare here.
I say: LOL
I'm sure that's not funny to you, but it is to me.
You said: Do read the posts properly, i already said I paid for my healthcare during my working life.
I say: I'm sorry if I misunderstood. Are you saying you paid for healthcare insurance which was not provided for by the government? Are you saying that you paid the same amount as everyone else (like I do when I pay for insurance), not percentage-wise, but the same amount?
Are you saying that the NHS is for retirees, whereas working people pay for their own insurance, and everyone pays the same amount?
If so, then your system is fair.
You are reasonable in asking me to shut up about Britain. But, what you could not understand is that the Americans are being pressured to accept this Nationalized Healthcare by being told how beneficial it is in Canada, England, and Sweden.
This is why Americans keep ripping on British healthcare. It's nothing against Brits. It's that we don't want your system. It's not American.
And frankly, if you pay a percentage based upon your income for your healthcare, it isn't good for you either, in my opinion.
Redistribution of wealth is for pussies, and it makes pussies out of a society.
Look at the problems that Britain and the United States are having. We're acting like a bunch of pussies.
You guys used to run most of the world. We do now, but our President is squandering all that power, and making us look like a bunch of pussies.
The Brits and the Americans are not pussies, and we can not afford to act like Pussies.
What do you think would happen to you if you joined your equivalent of the Marines, and you asked the three hundred pound guy to carry part of your load, because you only weigh 175 pounds?
You'd get your ass kicked, and that would be appropriate.
That's the way life should be.
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