The joys of socialized medicine

From The Daily Mail (Britain)...

Natalie Naylor, 20, was said to be 'far too well' to have [meningitis] despite suffering from a severe headache, stiff neck and a rash on her legs that did not fade under pressure.

She collapsed in a coma nine hours after arriving at hospital and her parents were later told she was brain dead....

Professor Keith Cartwright, a leading medical expert who made a full study of Miss Naylor's notes, concluded that if she had been given powerful antibiotics on her arrival at A&E, she could have made a full recovery.

The blood test that revealed the meningitis, taken after she arrived, wasn't red until the next morning, after she was taken off life support and pronounced dead.

Also from The Daily Mail...

As a baby, Cody's birthmark was so severe that it distorted the shape of her face and her family was told by doctors that there was nothing they could do.

Instead they suggested they bring Cody back when she was six years old.

But the couple refused to be defeated and researched their daughter's condition before finding out about about a surgeon in America who may be able to help.

They launched an appeal through their local newspaper, which raised £230,000, and they sent Cody to the Rossevelt [sic] Hospital in New York for her first treatment in 1993, when she was just one.

Since then she has been back to the US 18 times and has undergone numerous procedures including facelifts, rhinoplasty, skin grafts, liposuction, dermabrasion, eye surgery and laser surgery.

So what Brits doctors give up at the drop of a hat, Brit patients have to pay their own way to acceptable health care in the US. If the US adopts socialized medicine, where will all the Brits, Canadians and others from nations with socialized medicine go?

StoptheACLU.com has an interesting parody of a commercial illustrating some of the "benefits" of "free" health care...

Posted by Danny Carlton at May 29, 2008 7:10 AM