« The Envious Condom | Main | As Economy Unravels, Congress Gives Itself a Raise »
December 19, 2008
Another Adventure in Socialized Medicine
From the UK comes yet another precautionary tale of socialized medicine — the story of the aptly named Angela Breeds:
An expectant mother of twins was ferried 250 miles between four hospitals only to have her babies separated as soon as they were delivered.
Angela Breeds, 30, was told she needed a Caesarean section when doctors found one of her unborn babies was too small and not getting enough nutrition.
But what should have been the most thrilling moment of her life turned into a five-day ordeal because the hospitals either did not have the right scanning equipment or the incubators.
Doctors finally performed the Caesarean and delivered Suzie and Sonny nine weeks early. But then Sonny had to be moved to another hospital five minutes after birth - again because of incubator shortages.
Miss Breeds and her partner, Lee Taylor, 35, are now getting up at 5am every day to take breast milk to the babies at each hospital.
At least the medical care is free — unless you count the staggering level of taxation required to support it.
Of course, socialized medicine will work much more efficiently when it's imposed in the USA, because we'll have geniuses like Nancy Pelosi to see that it's administrated properly. They're doing a marvelous job with the rest of the economy.
On a tip from Hemlock.
Posted by Van Helsing at December 19, 2008 8:09 AM
Comments
I actually live in the area around Basildon, and I can tell you from experience that all the hospitals around here are literally falling apart. It takes forever to get an appointment, and once you're inside the place is unclean and the doctors are mostly unfriendly (and usually can't speak a word of english). To add insult to injury they look as though they haven't been decorated in about 30 years. So this story is no suprise to me.
Personally, I would rather pay for private treatment. Of course like the BBC, you're still having to pay for the public "service" even if you have no intention of using it.
Posted by: antipinko at December 19, 2008 12:25 PM
When my son - who is now one month old - was born we checked in to a private hospital and received prompt, efficient and excellent care and service throughout the entire process. Isn't it strange how that works. Oh, and I had no insurance coverage, and do not earn a particularly large wage even when gauged against the relatively low cost of living in the country in which I live currently. In fact the hospital bill worked out to more than 2 month's wages after tax. I achieved this by saving some of the money beforehand and borrowing the rest, not by demanding that the government provide me with socialized healthcare to be paid for by others.
Posted by: mandible claw at December 21, 2008 11:19 PM
