Do You Value Life

My father was a decorated veteran of WWII and Korea. He raised seven kids and loved them all to no end. Dad died from Alzheimer’s disease and the only one that cared for him for the last eight or nine years of his life was me. The only person that knew of his last wishes was me. All of the burden from seven children was on me to sign a DNR which is a Do Not Resuscitate should he go into a medical condition that could end in his death. I spent the last night with him holding his hand and he had no clue as to who I was. And yet I knew who he was. That was all that mattered.

There is a ton of controversy over the current health care legislation in Washington and there should be. I don’t want a blanket Gestapo health care plan but we all know that the system is broken. Nobody in America would drive by an accident with people, children, babies, bleeding and dying on the side of the road and yet that is what the current system does. Our health care system only cares for the people that can afford it and if you don’t have a job, you have an emergency room health care system. The costliest system there is. That means it is broken. Our health care system sucks! It’s one of the worst health care systems in all of the industrialized nations of the world.

I have Parkinson’s or some form of it according to doctors and the director of Neurology at UMASS Medical hospital in Worcester. I haven’t had insurance to treat it for a year and a half. I lost my job. I don’t bitch about it, I deal with it. I don’t have medication for it, I don’t bitch about it either. I do however have a living will.

I don’t want my children visiting a vegetable in a hospital or nursing home for a decade. I don’t want machines keeping me alive for one more second than God intended. That is my right and my decision to decide. I have made my peace with my God and I am not afraid. My path is not easy but my words for now are the truth. I am one of the people lost in the health care system that is broken beyond belief. I have my faith in God but I would like a few more years with my children. Could a health care system for all do that?

Nobody is proposing to kill the elderly. That would be idiotic just as it sounds. Matter of fact, the person putting in that addendum to the health care plan is a Republican doctor in the Congress. All he is asking for is a living will for all. I don't have a problem with that but I do have a problem with his political party selling it as a fear factor even though it came from their own political party as an addendum!

Thought for the process of the discussion for you to think about. Don’t you think you have a right in the discussion as to how you want to be treated in the end of your days? I know for a fact that I sure as hell do! Whatever organs I have that are of use, take em, use them, do whatever you want with them. My time in this vessel is or will be done. Anyone mocking this life changing legislation has never read the current wording by Senators Dodd and Kennedy. What has been added to it is not of their ownership.

Life is what it is, love it while you have it to enjoy! Go out of your way to make someone smile while you can.

Papamoka

Got Cancer Amigo? Your Gonna Die!

Picture courtesy of AOC.gov

I’m of the strongest opinion that our nations immigration policy is not only broken but the damn thing has been in the trash bin for twenty years and nobody will tie up the damn bag and take it to the curb for pick up. George Bush’s style of governing (State side) is to push back the broken policy systems in the federal government for almost everything back onto the states. From education to immigration he has pushed back and stuffed down the throats of the states every federally mandated law but his check is never in the mail to back it up.

It will take years for our nation’s FEDERAL Government to develop an immigration policy that actually works and until they do the states will be forced fed and pay for that broken policy and that is not right. From guarding the borders to the expensive emergency room medical care of illegal immigrants, Bush isn’t paying for it so the States or private business will have too! I’m just guessing that this is the conservative in Bush trying to (wink, wink) save the peoples hard earned tax dollars.

Over at the New York Times they have the latest on Bush pretending to be a conservative by knuckling down on Chemo Medicaid payments to the hospitals that treat illegal immigrants in the emergency room with cancer. His check isn’t going to clear on this one due to a stop payment order by the President…

Rule Limits Emergency Care for Immigrants

By SARAH KERSHAW
Published: September 22, 2007

The federal government has told New York State health officials that chemotherapy, which had been covered for illegal immigrants under a government-financed program for emergency medical care, does not qualify for coverage. The decision sets the stage for a battle between the state and federal governments over how medical emergencies are defined.

The change comes amid a fierce national debate on providing medical care to immigrants, with New York State officials and critics saying this latest move is one more indication of the Bush administration’s efforts to exclude the uninsured from public health services.

Snip Si Casa

In the wake of stricter federal rules, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and 20 other states have extended full Medicaid coverage, using only state money, to some immigrants who do not qualify for federal aid. Under federal law, proof of citizenship is required for full Medicaid coverage, but not for emergency coverage.

But some states with growing immigrant populations, like Georgia and Arizona, have themselves moved to limit coverage under emergency Medicaid, leading to intense opposition from immigrant health advocates. - New York Times

I have to back up on this story for a bit but I’ll get back into it. I promise. If President Bush and the Congress had taken care of the border problem and passed legislation that made sense, then the “Trickle down” effect of illegal immigrants would not have to be pushed back on the states. Instead, we have every single state trying to stop the flow of the Rio Grande with paper towels. If President Bush and the Congress paid a little bit more attention about what is going on at home rather than trying to save the Middle East then their popularity might be higher than a rats ass.

Back to the post… I just get a thought and the fingers type.

Every single person that goes to medical school to become a doctor takes and oath. It isn’t like the one President Bush took where he can define the Constitution and twist it to see how it fits him today. Nope, doctors take an oath to always care for the patient as best they can and to save lives. It isn’t the Hypolitcal oath. I’m thinking the oath that doctors take somehow is above any oath Prescident (misspelled on purpose) Bush took as President.
Our nation has an immigration policy problem. Our Congress and our President think that the states can pay the sins of our lost federal government. They can not and should not have to.

Illegal immigration is a serious issue and as much as I am a Democrat, I want my nation and its borders secured. Stop the problem where it begins and fix the policies that will effect the people already here. There is no magic wand or enough busses to send all of the illegal immigrants back. We more or less own them as a people because our federal government refused to legislate on the issue of immigration. This failure is owned by both sides of the political aisle.

What I see as a result of this President and the Congress failure to act on immigration is the prosecution of some doctor or nurse somewhere in America for failing to perform their duties to save a human life because a green card or legal citizen document was not presented at the emergency room. For all I know it has already happened.

Papamoka

Cross posted at Bring it On!

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