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January 28, 2008
British Doctors: Withhold Treatment From the Unhealthy
Posted by Dave Blount at January 28, 2008 7:10 AM
Obviously, socialized medicine could never function as efficiently medical care in a free economy, because when you set the price of a highly valued commodity like healthcare at zero, demand will quickly reach infinity. Since supply is far from infinite, rationing must be imposed. In Britain, it is already getting ugly:
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.
Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone. […]
About one in 10 hospitals already deny some surgery to obese patients and smokers, with restrictions most common in hospitals battling debt.
Supposedly half the British population will by "dangerously overweight" by 2050, which should at least keep the wait down to a few years for emergency surgery if all these people are denied medical care.
The Government has stepped up to the plate by offering to pay fat people to diet and exercise. Just as they once thought the supply of healthcare is infinite, bureaucrats now believe there is no bottom to taxpayers' pockets.
One in three doctors surveyed think that old people shouldn't be given treatment if they are going to die soon anyway. Half think that smokers shouldn't get heart bypass surgery. Ninety-four percent think alcoholics should not be given liver transplants, which is almost exactly the percentage of alcoholics who stop drinking after receiving one.
Giving an indication of how depraved the medical profession has become under socialism, only one in five doesn't think taxpayers should have to finance "social" abortions. Limited resources are to be focused on ending life, not prolonging it.
On tips from Kevin and V the K.
