Ramping up the Death Panels

A government-funded panel recently reported some very, very self-serving guidelines. Among them are:

• Women should be 50 before she gets her baseline Mammogram
• Women should get a Mammogram only every 2 years after that
• Women should no longer get a Mammogram after she turns 74
• No mammograms before 50

This turns DECADES of research on its ear. In the past, it was argued if 40 was early enough. Right now, the commonly accepted practice is:

• A woman should get their baseline Mammogram at age 35
• A woman should get a Mammogram every year after age 40

What in the world are they thinking about the age 74 guideline? Does this mean that they feel that breast cancer will no longer kill you within your expected, remaining life-span? I have a grandmother who will turn 91 this June. She gets regular Mammograms and I'm damn glad for it. I had a Great Grandmother who made it to 99. She got regular check ups as well. What about the woman who develops cancer in her 75th year? Too bad, you had a good run? Is that America? Do we withhold treatment based on a person being too old?

I'll be blunt. That is barbaric. Sorry granny, you don't pay enough taxes to make your continued existence worthwhile to the collective. Goodbye.

No. This is not my America. I've taken care of patients in full-on dementia, 90 years old and with a very visible "Do Not Resuscitate" paperwork in their chart. I took an hour doing a Sinus workup because the family doctor ordered it. Was I doing the patient a favor? That another blog topic.

We take care of our sick, our injured, and our crippled. We are the most generous and caring people this world has ever seen. I don't want to go the way of Western Europe, where family get to come in and see their sick, injured, terminal, loved ones sedated in a hospital bed being denied food and fluids. That is a Deathwatch, pure and simple.

Not in my America.

My wife, and I will speak of her often, was born and raised in Communist Czechoslovakia. She saw her grandmother tied down, naked on a steel bed while the "doctors" waited for hypothermia and pneumonia to carry her off. This is something she will never forget. She tells me again and again that there is no where else in the world to run to. This is it. The conservative way of life lives or dies with the generations alive today. Do we slide into the degeneration of Western Europe or do we shake off Cercie's potion and remember who we are.

My America:

• set mankind on the moon, in the name of all mankind and not just America
• sent robotic probes to roam Mars, the outer planets, and are now travelling free between the stars
• created 80%+ medical innovations in the last century
• liberated Europe not once, but twice--and took a boot to the butt and spit in the face as thanks for it each time
• liberated millions dominated by Islam in a single year
• feed, dress, and house millions of refugees we will never meet all over the world, every year

That is just a very small list. I could go on and on. Are we perfect? No one is perfect. Even Jesus doubted his destiny, so I guess even He was not completely perfect. We are, however, better than any other nation that exists today or has ever existed in the past (yes, I'm aware of the Native Americans and how they were treated).

There, I feel a little better now. I may write more on this later.

Zavost