On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 09:51:53 -0500, the inscrutable "Ed Huntress"
spake:
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
Amen. No belts/bags/helmets, no insurance coverage. Your life, your
choice.
Reality check time, Larry. Your buddy, who isn't the sharpest knife in the
drawer, is riding a bike without a helmet and gets in a crash. He's flopping
on the ground with a brain injury. Along comes the ambulance. "Eh, no
helmet," they say. "Let him lie." They get back in the ambulance and drive
home. Your buddy dies.
Right. HIS choice. And that's the way it should be.
Or not. They take him to the hospital, as they're now required to by law. He
lives, after $120,000 worth of brain surgery.
$120k barely gets him in the door and stabilized today. Make it 1/2 a
mil to do surgery to save his life, but in a completely vegetative
state. THAT bothers me on both counts. A lot.
Your buddy's assets amount to $623 net. The hospital has to raise its rates
for the rest of us, to cover people like your buddy. According to the State
of Illinois, roughly 85% of motorcycle-accident hospital costs are not
covered by insurance. The state winds up eating about 40% of the cost, with
the other 45% born directly by the hospital. You pay both ways.
That's precisely what I'm against.
Now, you have to change the law in some way to effect what you're proposing.
Either you let the sucker lie on the ground and die, or the hospital pushes
him into the street on a gurney when he's reached his insurance limit.
Questions: Do you handle it all up-front, letting him lie on the ground, and
let the highway cleanup crew remove the carcass after a few days, or do you
just push him out to die when he's run out of money? And, regardless of
which you choose, do you really want to live in a society that would allow
either situation? How about if YOU simply forgot to fasten your seat belt
one day, and got in a crash? When the EMTs saw you weren't wearing a belt
and turned around to walk away, might you change your mind?
Nope, I'd deserve the fate I got if I forgot to buckle up. EMTs
shouldn't resuscitate the Opt Outers, but should merely make them
more comfy for their impending death.
Since hospitals are geared toward the dying, toting the bodies there
for a day or two there with minimal fuss and accelerated disposal
would probably be the easiest route since bodies (living and dead) are
already going there now. Doctors should NOT be kept from putting
people out of their misery if these people WANT that. (Along that
line, suicide watch on Death Row is one of the most assinine things in
this country, second only to some of Shrub's moves.)
Serious questions, they need a serious answer.
If it's me dying, please promptly put me out of my misery. 1 shot to
the temple, like a horse in a western movie.
(Yes, I'm serious and
need to update my Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care statement
for Oregon. I'm a fatalist and don't want to be kept alive by machines
as a vegetable, thanks.)
Those who opt out could get small tattoos on the inside of their
wrists. DNR for "Do Not Resuscitate." This would alert EMTs and
hospitals before the fact that the party had made other choices.
--
STOP LIVING LIKE VEAL
-----------------------
http://diversify.com Veal-free Websites