End of life decisions just got a lot more complicated…

23 year coma, conscious the whole time: www.dailymail.co.uk.

His condition is called “locked in syndrome.” It’s probably the worst thing imaginable. A good neurologist can diagnose it base on a neurologic exam. It’s been known about for decades. I would rather get polio.

Doctor Dove is right. This is a good example of the lack of innovation, modernization, and motivation characteristic of a state-run health system. But what can we do in America with 80% of our citizens getting state-of-the-art medical treatment and 20% ignoring the need for preparation or being unable to afford preparation who then wait until they end up in the ER to get their state-of-the-art healthcare – in a health system that is currently under capacity? Because if you stand at the head of the proverbial line and ignore the line itself, the US health system is a little bit unfair maybe, and we all don’t want unfairness.

I think we should ignore expanding capacity even though increased capacity would reduce cost more than anything by far, and push through the biggest most complicated bill ever put through congress in order to reorganize the payment side for medicine under a government bureaucracy in a way that will actually increase healthcare cost. This way the political wind will decide what treatments are necessary and require the most funding, and everyone will get the same outdated care by miserable healthcare staff.

Because seriously, why should 80% of us get to eat hot steak whenever we want while the other 20% have to wait in line for cold steak – when we all could be waiting in line for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or what ever type of cold sandwich a combination of independent panels and political wind says we should have?

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