Yeah it's a bit sensational and eyeball grabbing, but no more blarney than we're used to, from politicians and media hype!!
I was an emergency on the 12th of August, You may have read about it in "The Great British National Health Service Saved My Life"
http://crispysea.blogspot.com/2009/08/great-british-national-health-service.html.
In that moment I jumped the queue - I didn't know I was going to, I had no warning signs whatsoever, but jump the queue I did.
My emergency care pushed me to the top of the angioplasty list.
I assume, that all those thousands of people waiting for the procedure and already scheduled for surgery, would have been a bit disgruntled at being pushed down the list; maybe they've had to spend another few days in pain or discomfort.
Make no mistake I feel for their pain, 9 years ago I was waiting for surgery on a prolapsed spinal disc, the surgery was postponed 3 times because of emergencies, and twice I'd already travelled to the hospital for the surgery only to be turned away again. It was a pestereance to me, extra weeks of pain, but the emergencies would have been somebody in imminent danger of paralysis or death. So of course, had I been asked if I minded that person in emergency need of care going in front of me in the queue, I, and I presume any other humane being would say "Yeah ok, i'm only in pain, I'm not in danger, you go first."
It seems to me that the best one can hope for from any National health service, the best outcome you can expect is, in an unpredicted or emergency occurrence, the system copes with the extra strain.
In a system of limited funds, triage must be applied, those in greatest need first.
We all loved the TV series about an army surgical unit in the Korean war - MASH.
Almost weekly we would watch the courageous doctors and nurses choose which soldiers to save and which to leave to die. Their difficult decisions always, sensibly, based on their past experience of the survivability of various injuries.
This can only be described, by any humane being, as fair, just, moral and sensible.
But a typically self-centred, right-wing bastard, would describe those nurses and doctors as a death panel!
We all complain about having to wait for treatment, each of us likes to think ourselves the most important, but in medical emergency situations, we all accept that the 'most important' is the one closest to death whom is most likely to be saved.
The NHS works brilliantly well, and lets face it, everybody on the planet wishes they had one just as good!
PEACE
Crispy
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