As you read on, keep in mind that Joshua Fleuelling could be you, your son or your daughter under Obamacare.

From Fayette Daily News: Do You Really Want Free Health Care? (emphasis mine).

Dr. Merrill Matthews, Jr., an Ontario doctor, wrote an article for a Canadian medical publication titled “When Patients Become Victims.”

Dr. Matthews, in a pointed satirical fashion, mocked the Canadian health care system by comparing it derisively to the French version of socialized medicine.

The French proudly call their system, “Medecins sans Frontieres” (Doctors without borders), while Dr. Matthews coined the phrase “Medicine sans Docteurs” in describing the current state of Canadian health care.

Joshua Fleuelling, age 18, of Ontario suffered a severe asthma attack.

He was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital to his home only to be turned away because the hospital was on “critical care by-pass,” meaning that the emergency room was full.

Joshua was then taken to another hospital (a trip of over 20 minutes). He died on the way.

Canadian hospital officials opined, (unsympathetically) “We have had a sudden outbreak of the flu.”

One naturally asks, why would an ER be full of flu sufferers? Answer: In Canada, an appointment to see a private doctor can take weeks, sometimes months.

Canada has had an economic downturn resulting in a tightening of the belt in the area of health-care. Provinces in Canada received their health care dollars from the government, but due to economic stress, the dollars going to the health-care system has shrunk.

In Ontario alone, the government has furloughed 3,600 nurses and forced 1,200 doctors to take early retirement.

The New York Times, in a rare moment of rational commentary, reported that 23 of 25 hospitals in Toronto turned away patients because they were not staffed to handle them. Twenty percent of these patients were heart attack victims who needed life-saving treatment within 15 minutes but were put on medical hold for over an hour.

The wait for non-elective surgery and chemotherapy is months. According to a study by the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute’s annual survey, 213,000 Canadians are waiting for surgical procedures.

Attempts to curb health-care costs in Canada has become somewhat of a joke (if it weren’t so tragic) among Canadians.

The latest cost cutting foray by the Canadian government was a mass mailing (at a cost of $500,000) of an eight page brochure suggesting that patients with common colds or flu, self medicate.

The government recommended raw mustard for the common cold; or the Greeks’ cure, vinegar and pepper; or maybe in severe cases of the flu, copy the Russians and South Asians and drink ginger-tea with horseradish, washed down by a big swig of coriander tea. Holy home remedies, Batman!

Obama’s idea of Socialism is fairness across the board when the reality is that fairness under Socialism means that everyone is equally miserable.

Read the while thing. I would laugh were the situation not so dire.

Look at Socialism like a scale with the poor on one side and everyone else on the other. To equalize the scale, you take from the “other” side and add to the poor side. The problem is, as you bring the poor up, you bring down the achievers. One adverse effect of this ideology is the destruction of any incentive to excel. In the end, the monetary cost of socialization is the equivalent of removing the same amount of weight from both sides, dragging everyone down to a hellish existence mired in mediocrity, dependency, and pride. It is really that simple.

Let me re-iterate, the 18 year old in the story above could be your son or daughter – or maybe its you. Makes you want to pick up that phone, doesn’t it?

If you have a liberal son, daughter, friend, or relative who believe universal health care – also known as socialized medicine, also known as the public option – is the cat’s meow, email this story to them and have them ponder their own future under this system. Then challenge them to think outside the box and demand their representatives do the same. This issue can be addressed, but not by partisan political hacks, but by clear thinking common sense.

Further Reading:

Pelosi Pays the Price for Climate Bill – Blue Dogs Are Barking Loud.

Not Even Hiding It Anymore. NYT: Why We Must Ration Health Care. If you want to be shocked at how liberals view rationing and health care, this is a must read. As you peruse the story, think of you parents and grand parents and ask yourself – does the government have the right to decide if and when they should die? Then read the Declaration of Independence.

In related news and opinion:

Michelle Malkin: Inside the monstrous Obamacare bureaucracy. Also check out, Putting a face on the casualties of Obamacare.

Sister Toldjah: CBO pours cold water on Obama admin’s claims about “savings” from ObamaCare. Heh.

Stop the ACLU: Snowe Dampens Dems Healthcare Ardor and Polls Begin to Turn

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey: CBO director: Deficit spending unsustainable

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 9:16 am and is filed under General Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.