The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Richard Day's picture

    DEATH PANELS

    By Richard Day on Mon, 04/18/2016 - 7:35pm |

    DEATH PANELS

    Heraklion Archaeological Museum

    Remember the old death panel diatribes from the right?

    http://www.salon.com/2009/08/11/denial_of_care/

    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/07/death-panels-108553

    This goes back to before Obama took the oath of office?
    I recall when Mickey Mantle received his liver transplant;

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mantle
    A transplant that really never took, hit the media giants.
    Mickey, my hero, was trashed because he was a drinker and
    should never have been on the list for a new liver.

    This all had to do with the fact that certain Platonic Governors could decide who receives a new

    liver; who receives a new heart, who receives new  lungs...?

    http://www.naturalnews.com/033770_nursing_homes_profits.htm
    And if you were not on the list, you would die.

    Hospitals decided who WAS ON THE LIST AND IN WHAT ORDER.

    Insurance companies decided who was on the list and who was not!

    So, if you can imagine, the public felt that if you drank,
    you were not entitled to a 'new liver'.

    If you smoked, the public felt that you should not be 
    able to receive a new set of lungs.

    If you were fat and exhibited no interest in exercise; you
    should not be able to receive new kidneys.

    We have not acceded to this technology yet, but if you
    demonstrated no interest in education; you should not
    be able to receive a new brain.
    hahahahahahah

    But the public never decides these types of things.

    The world seems to accept the dictates demonstrated
    in Plato's Republic. That is, decision makers should be
    wise men who supposedly know about these matters. ha

    Now we all know that abuse occurs at senior care facilities
    ​http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/aug/10/castlebeck-care-home-abuse-scandal

    ​http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20140421

    http://www.kctv5.com/story/27342952/assisted-living-executive-indicted-on-20-
    charges-related-to-pills-stolen-from-assisted-living-facility

    You cannot find the proper lung or heart or liver or kidney without some help.

    DNA is a proper source in order to find that proper organ and computers tell those in charge what is proper.

    I lost the original link that tells us that some resthomes were guilty of actually killing the oldest amongst us.

    There was some limit as to how much money these 'independent' rest homes could gather income?

    But I thought about this subject again.

    The link I cannot find the link that underlined that families wished to end it all, as it were for those peeps.

    We have specialized wills etc... Do Not Resuscitate?

    I AM A DONOR?

    And these written wishes are of import, for sure.

    But, there is a related subject that I have ignored for years.

    A friend of mine wished that I might look into issues concerning emancipation. 

    Emancipation is a nice word, is it not?

    But the real issue for social workers all over this country involves severely retarded children who reach adulthood.

    Look, you are a parent of a severely autistic child and after twenty years, more or less, you cannot take it any longer?

    What do you do?

    You cannot handle the situation any longer.

    You have no more money to help the situation any longer.

    OR YOU ARE DEAD?

    These are tough issues for sure.

    THE LIVING AND THE DEAD.

    Hopefully this is just a beginning to other essays.

    It is really hard to stand in the shoes of those suffering; it is really difficult judge those who have been in pain for decades; and it is really difficult to even discuss these issues.

    Maybe I am thinking about these issues as I age, most egregiously. hahahahahaH

    In the olden days, I recall that my dear old Dad made sure that he would count the toes and the fingers of his progeny.

    hahahhaahah

    I am sure that he was looking for a penis AND he was looking for no vagina. 

    hahahahah

    Some kids are born with two heads or three arms or one leg or a penis and a vagina.

    I think that that is what that old silliness was all about. Daddy was looking for one or the other. hahahahah

    From a societal point of view, how do we handle these issues?

    Are parents in charge?

    There are no sins involved of course.

    It all involves the issues concerning those of us who end up a weight upon others.

    The answers to these questions are not easy to answer.

    And yet, SOMEBODY HAS TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

    Somebody has to make the final 

    'decision'.

    But the real issue involves even speaking of these issues.

    Some people have to die; they have to die without machines, they have to die without further...whatever.

    We are living longer. 

    Us old folks, many of us would have been in the dirt decades ago going back only 60 years or a hundred years or five hundred years. 

    Like I said above, I lost the link, but I do not need a link to at least bring up these issues.

    SOMEBODY HAS TO PULL THE PLUG.

    But Obama is not pulling the plug.

    But aside from that.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Comments

    I was going to post a song but the comment media box isn't letting me. I will try again later.  


    by trkingmomoe on Mon, 04/18/2016 - 10:07pm

    I actually had a comment here Momo. hahahahah

    And I am four days late.

    We are all right.

    Go onto other things Momo. hahahah

    And unlike me, you have many things to do.


    by Richard Day on Fri, 04/22/2016 - 7:23pm

    OK I have time now to do this.  I had to fix Google Chrome. My poor lap top crashed phone banking for Bernie. You know how I am one of those wild eyed revolutionaries that don't know the underbelly of life. LOL... I think you will like this.  Take a load off.  It has been a busy week. I would tell you about it but you would never believe me. 


    by trkingmomoe on Sun, 04/24/2016 - 1:27am

    Well, Mr. Day, I have a little bit to say about death panels.
    In late January 2012 I lay on a bed in St. Mary's Hospital in Saginaw, MI. My then nephrologist looked at me and said, "Your kidneys have failed. They are working at less than 5%. You will be on dialysis for the rest of your life."
    Then he turned and left the room.
    Nothing really registered with me at that moment. When your kidneys are working at 5%, your brain is pretty much a puddle of sad honey. Things are supposed to stick and float, but most end up as residue at the bottom of the jar that you can only scrape up with a screwdriver.
    Anyhoo...
    At some point, not too long after, I was asked if I wanted to be added to the list for a donated kidney.
    I told them I'd have to think about it before giving an answer, talk it over with the fam because honestly, my son was helping me out with my thinking at that time. Sad honey brain, you know.
    About a month later the medicos asked me again. I still haven't given them an answer.
    I don't know if I want a donated kidney. Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but...
    because of modern dialysis I can live indefinitely without any kidney function as long as I can get to a machine three times a week.
    I did learn some things about the process though. First and foremost, you have to meet some very strict criteria, mostly as to lifestyle, weight, age and if you have other health issues.
    To be evaluated for a kidney, you have to go through a day long battery of tests at a transplant hospital. They will let you know in a month or two how it turns out for you.
    In the meantime, all you can think about is the 5 to 7 year waiting list you will be added to if you pass muster.
    After all the testing, it is ultimately in the hands of the hospital if you get the thumbs up or down.
    Here's the kicker, Mr. Day: There are two hospitals in Michigan that do kidney transplants, U of M in Ann Arbor and Henry Ford in Detroit. When talking about me signing up for a transplant, my Dr., who was very gung ho for me to get one, told me if I chose Henry Ford, he had connections there and could pull a few strings for me.
    Now...hmmm. So, death panels...be they real? I mean, is it fair that I might get the go ahead just because my doc has 'connections'?
    My brain isn't a puddle of sad honey anymore, but holy cow, this process of choosing who gets what in the Land of Oz makes me wish for the good old days when I didn't have to think at all.


    by wabby on Sat, 04/23/2016 - 11:19pm

    I am glad you are still here with us thinking.  


    by trkingmomoe on Sun, 04/24/2016 - 1:37am

    A doctor gave my brother a death verdict inthe waiting room and left him crying without his wife there while he went back to work. Our "compassionate" system sometimes misses the boat.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 04/24/2016 - 1:55am

    I had doctors who were friends.

    No kidding.

    And they were idiots. 

    And the doctors that I sought medical care from: most were idiots.

    Of course I am an idiot. 

    I watch old Gunsmoke episodes sometimes. Doctors KNEW NOTHING IN 1876. HAHAHAHAH

    What tests were done?

    What blood or urine or whatever was taken?

    I am sorry for your loss Peracles.

    I make no jokes.

    We need a health system.

    And who funds this system?

    I lost Dad when I was 12 but he died from alcohol.

    And yet, Mom died when she was 87 from the same disease?

    I really am rambling now.

    And I am old and I hate doctors.

     

    But this scene at this hospital that you portray....just got to me.

     


    by Richard Day on Mon, 04/25/2016 - 6:15pm

    Glad to hear you're still booting along, Flowerchild. 

    We all require a bit of borrowing and lending to make it through life.


    by quinn esq on Sun, 04/24/2016 - 4:15pm

    Coming from the man who's overextended... ;-) yep, a lot travails and tough stories. We used to read literature for the Human Tragedy, but now it seems there's just too much. Maybe not in Greek proportions, just hard slogging.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 04/25/2016 - 2:13am

    I gave up on this post the 22nd.

    And finally some folks respond.

    THIS IS A BIG ISSUE.

    That does not mean that I contend that I posted it correctly, of course.

    Fascinating.

    There are all these folks who experienced personally or through some relative an awful situation.

    These latter comments just got to me.


    by Richard Day on Mon, 04/25/2016 - 5:54pm