I have an elderly relative–about 90 years young–who is smart and wonderful and holy and good. She unfortunately caught the flu and had to be hospitalized.
In the past, one got sick and one went to the hospital to get well. But the Obamacare mentality has descended upon many healthcare providers. And these people seem determined to rid the world of the elderly.
Being old does not make one less human. Tell that to doctors who would be super-sensitive to a young illegal–excuse me, I mean undocumented–pregnant woman with no insurance. I also see them bending over backwards to be accommodating to a homosexual man diagnosed with AIDS.
So why should old people count for any less? Doctors are not supposed to judge. They should treat the person, not their characteristics such as age.
Well, during this lovely lady’s recent hospitalization she was told that she was old and that is why she was not responding well to the flu, which I admit is a serious disease. It turns out she was overloaded with fluid in the ER and that is why she nearly died. Not because she was old.
In advocating on her behalf–and one must have an advocate in this day and age!–I engaged in battle with a series of doctors who kept telling me how old this woman is. As if I didn’t know. I say, treat. They say, but she’s old.
She has recovered this time as she had in the past. She just needed to be given the opportunity. It is not for the doctors to judge.
It’s not as if the docs are free from mistakes. While my relative was being treated for the flu, she was transferred from isolation into a room with someone else who had the flu–but it was a different strain! She was quietly transferred back to her own room.
Did I mention that this is the best hospital in New York City?
The best part was that while the flu was still ravaging her poor lungs, the resident in charge was trying to get her transferred to short term rehab. That is a nursing home for those of you that don’t know.
Nursing homes have a purpose but one does not want to go there before one is ready. It means a return to the ER in short order–or a death sentence.
And it is not for a doctor to choose who lives and who dies. Doctors should treat the patient, the actual person. Just like we would not tolerate medical judgments based on race or sex, we should not have young docs dismissing the elderly just because they are old.
When Sarah Palin brought the death panels to our attention, she was ridiculed but she was prescient. Obamacare has not gone fully into effect but the mentality is already in place. Whether official or not, old people are at a disadvantage when they enter health care institutions.
One should be vigilant because the death panels are coming. What is unofficial now will become official in the coming years. Old people and those who love them, watch out!
