Friday, July 31, 2009

Does Sen. Dodd Still Favor National Health Care?

He probably does but only because Congress wants to exempt themselves from ObamaCare.

Because he lives in the United States, he has a 99% chance of surviving prostate cancer for five years or longer.

Under universal health care, in England, his chances of surviving prostate cancer for 5 years would be only 74%.

The data is here (LINK).

The difference in cancer survival rates isn't due to English doctor's being inferior to their American counterparts, becaue they are not. The difference is because under nationalized medicine, English doctors are forced to practice medicine with their hands tied behind their backs. Under nationalized medicine the state decides which treatments are most cost effective for the state. Treatments that are deemed 'too expensive' are denied. In a nutshell, nationalized health care is bad health care.

"At least 7 factors drive overuse [of medical care], 4 related to physicians and 3 related to patients. First, there is the matter of physician culture. Medical school education and postgraduate training emphasize thoroughness. When evaluating a patient, students, interns, and residents are trained to identify and praised for and graded on enumerating all possible diagnoses and tests that would confirm or exclude them. The thought is that the more thorough the evaluation, the more intelligent the student or house officer. Trainees who ignore the improbable 'zebra' diagnoses are not deemed insightful. In medical training, meticulousness, not effectiveness, is rewarded.

"This mentality carries over into practice. Peer recognition goes to the most thorough and aggressive physicians. The prudent physician is not deemed particularly competent, but rather inadequate. This culture is further reinforced by A UNIQUE UNDERSTANDING OF PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS, SPECIFICALLY, THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH'S ADMONITION TO 'USE MY POWER TO HELP THE SICK TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY AND JUDGMENT' AS AN IMPERATIVE TO DO EVERYTHING FOR THE PATIENT REGARDLESS OF COST OR EFFECT ON OTHERS." [emphasis added].


Those are the words of Ezekiel "Zeke" J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D. (1957-) is an American NIH bioethicist and fellow at the right-to-die Hastings Center, is a leading opponent of state-assisted suicide,[1]and a proponent of a Guaranteed Healthcare Access Plan. He is the brother of Obama's Chief of State, Rahm Emanuel.

I wish Sen. Dodd God's speed in his recovery. I pray for all of us that ObamaCare fails.

H/T Don Surber

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