EU: First they take the guns, then your life

[anygunanywhere]

I broke my leg working in Canada. ER doctor told me they could fix it. They would put me on the waiting list and get to it in a few weeks.

Short story, they reduced it and splinted it in the ER. I flew to Houston to the Medical center.

[Noggin]

Over the years there have been many cases where British families have run appeals for funds to get their children treated in the US. Such stories have appeared in the news several times. More often though they have happier endings. More often than not the treatment they get in this country is either not approved or simply not offered on grounds of cost, because of course if you have free healthcare then it follows that means "rationed" healthcare.

While living with me in UK my wife developed a gall bladder problem. She was put in hospital for a few days put on morphine for the pain and then sent home. She was told it would take 6 weeks to arrange the necessary tests to confirm the initial diagnosis and then probably anwther 4 months to schedule the surgery. in the meantime they said if she had problems again they would readmit her to hospital and put her on morphine if she needed it. So they would waste money on a hospital bed/nursing care/food/drugs/etc because they could not speed up the surgery, that is government healthcare for you at it's best.

We then inquired about private treatment. The lead surgeon informed us that if we wished to go down that route then she could be admitted to the local "private hospital" (where like all the other department heads in ran a separate practice) in which case the tests could be arranged next week and the surgery the week after. So that is the route we followed. Gall bladder removal for a fixed price of 6,000GBP, some people in UK have medical insurance we didn't so I just paid cash. That's the thing in UK you can sometimes short circuit the public system if you have the money.

[ScottDLS]

This case is appalling. The State is killing the baby against the will of his parents. He has no one that can stand up for him and his parents are barred by the State from doing anything even when they have the means to do so. I thought the UK didn't have the death penalty. I guess they do if you're a baby. Post-natal abortion, so to speak.

[C-dub]

Imagine what would happen if U. S. Doctors were able to cure the baby.

Couldn't have that.

So which UK health care story is worse?

This one or one of these?

Head of nurosurgery at Londons largest hospital was accused of taking a second dessert at the hospital cafeteria ( he said he forgot to get it the first trip through). The hospital administrators suspended him for a week. It was estimated that three patients would die from his missing surgery that week.

Or

A patient called 911 from his cell phone while he was in the hospital in England. He said he was dieing from lack of water. The police went to the hospital to check on him. The hospital staff stopped them from actually seeing him, but assured them he was getting the best care and they would make doubly sure he had lots of water. They may have suggested that his illness was causing hallucinations.
So the police left. The patient died two days later, the autopsy showed he died of dehydration. The resulting publicity negatively affected the hospital staff and so the staff was given therapy to help them deal with his death.

Are there links to either of those stories?

[C-dub]

I think I've found them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -work.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... water.html

[TexasJohnBoy]

They weren't even allowed to take their child home
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -home.html

I have no words.

[SewTexas]

the UK system is perfectly fine....as long as you aren't sick...

[bblhd672]

There are days when I feel like the Brits are getting everything they deserve from the immigrant invasion.

[philip964]

http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/hospital-to-kill-baby

Cute photos of the baby. Its hard to imagine there is something wrong with the baby.

Per the UN, France has the best health care in the world. If you remember the news reports, Yasser Arafat was shown getting on a helicopter with out assistance, headed to France for some health care. Two weeks later he was dead. Lady Di died in Paris after a car accident. Near as I could tell she would have survived in most US cities with a trauma hospital. ( It took an hour to get her from the car accident in the middle of Paris to a hospital)

My French health care story is a personal one. I had a French employee who always told me about how French heath care was free and included in the minimum 50% tax rate all French workers paid. She was headed back to France, but was staying with the firm for another two months. The last month she and her child were round the clock going to the doctor for checkups, tests, immunizations, etc. Our insurance plan at the time had a 25 dollar co pay. I asked if everything was ok and she said yes, she just wanted to get as much done as possible before she left, as everything here was so much more pleasant and there were not the long lines, waits and difficulties in getting appointments, like she would have in France. I still don't charge my employees for their group health insurance. To this day she is the only employee who has ever told me I made a mistake on her paycheck - I paid her too much, I did not take enough out for taxes. I had to assure her that it was done correctly.

[philip964]

I think I've found them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -work.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... water.html

Wow. These may be the same ones. I remember them in the newspaper. I didn't think the internet was around.