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| Statists still expecting bundle of joy | |
Statists and true
believers were shocked recently to learn of an expectant mother miscarrying
in the toilet in the emergency ward of a major hospital after her cries for
help were ignored by hospital staff for two hours. Apparently Ms Casey was classified as 'level 4' by RPA triage staff, and relegated
to the back of the queue. Where she stayed, until it occurred to hospital staff
that a still-living fetus on the toilet floor was likely to get them unwanted
publicity. Not that hospital staff are averse to publicity, of course. Nurses seem to run
endless ads threatening to leave the profession because it's all John Howard's
fault. The fact that they are almost exclusively employed by state Labour
governments is not actually mentioned of course - apparently John Howard is
failing in his duty to force the state Labour governments to ignore market
forces. But clearly Kevin Rudd will. Because .. umm? As state and federal pollies finger pointed at
each other and ducked for cover, more and more people started coming of the
wood work and relaying their horror stories at the hands (or more likely not at
the hands) of emergency room staff in our glorious socialist health system. But it's not really clear what people expect from a socialist health
system. It's easy to simply retort with 'Guys, you wanted a socialist health
system, and you got one. What did you expect? Efficiency?' But the truth is a
little more complicated. If a woman is about to miscarry, there is little which can be done about it.
Usually miscarriages occur because of trauma (like a fall or a road accident),
or because there is something wrong with the fetus or the mother. The human
body is really pretty smart. If the mother's body decides that the fetus is
not viable it miscarries. It sounds horrible, but it's simply the truth.
The best you can do for a woman about to miscarry is to make her comfortable
and (if appropriate) give her counseling. But comfort and counseling are not the jobs of triage staff in an emergency room. They are there to
save lives. In fact, lives may have been saved by ignoring her, and helping
those who could actually be saved by the resources available. Exactly what do
people expect from a hospital emergency room? Understanding? Sympathy? Apparently so. But why would they expect this from a socialist health system?
Socialist systems are not exactly known for their humanity or compassion. Why
would they expect socialism to work differently in Australia? Apparently they are true believers. A few days later, The Telegraph showed a picture of the emergency room after
the publicity. It was empty. Sick people were either traveling further afield
to find better care, or taking their chances simply staying at home. This sounds
suspiciously like market forces kicking in. Imagine for a moment if RPA were a hospital in an all-private health
system. The publicity would have cost them millions as people chose to take
their illnesses (and spend their money) elsewhere. But our socialist health
system will simply waste a few million dollars of taxes having inquiries, finger
pointing, writing reports and shuffling deck-chairs, before returning to
business as usual. There can be few better arguments for a privatized health system.
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