Health Care Beware

This past week women's health care has taken a big blow. A panel of Dr's and healthcare professionals are changing the recommendations for mammograms and pap smears. The findings discovered that for women over 40, one life was saved for every 1800 mammograms. For over 50, it was one life for every 1300 mammograms.

CBS news is trying to spin this as not being related to cost, yet these findings come at a time when the government is trying to overhaul healthcare and the rising cost of health insurance.

A comment was made by the Dr. being interviewed regarding reducing the frequency change from one to every two years for both mammograms and pap smears including pap smears... the easier- to- cure breast and cervical cancers are slow growing, so waiting two years won't affect the treatment and survival rate. The opinion continued with the statement that if you have an aggressive cancer you will die from it anyway.

This type of thinking really bothers me. So do we just give up on treating aggressive cancer because it is costly? Because we really don't want to find a cure?

One senior I knew had a stroke, from which he recovered(mostly). Although he never regained his former abilities, he still had quality of life. He then had open heart surgery. He was discovered to have prostrate cancer, but it was decided not to treat him because the docs felt his heart would do him in first. Guess what he died from? Cancer that spread from his prostrate.

(Yes, he was on medicare.)

CBS is still on a health care propaganda roll. Last night on 60 minutes they did a segment about ICU's and prolonging the inevitable. (death) They had one person showing medical bills for her mother which had 24 specialists billing her insurance in her last two months of life- despite the fact that her mother wanted no extraordinary intervention at her life's end. They must have looked long and hard for that case.

They also interviewed a man in his 60's that needed and wanted a liver and lung transplant. The doc was trying to get him to face reality, that he was not going to get the transplants or get better, and asked him if he wanted CPR if he should need it? The man was adamant in replying yes. He said that was better than second place.

At the end of the segment, the interviewer commented that the man's condition had worsened and the family had decided to institute a DNR order=do not resuscitate-and he died.

I know we all end life with death. I understand end of life care can be expensive. But who should decide when we have lived long enough? Or when we need a health screening that could save our life? Why not just say that no one needs a physical until they are 40 because if it picks up anything serious by then it would cost too much to save your life?

If you can't stay healthy until 40 you might as well die because you're just dragging down the gene pool..Is that where health care in a capitalistic society is heading?