Brickbat: I'd Rather Not Go Blind

A survey of staff at the United Kingdom's National Health Service found that a third of ophthalmologists and ophthalmological nurses believe patients are unnecessarily going blind because of delays in treatment. More than 80 percent of those surveyed said their clinics didn't have the capacity to meet demand.

Comments

[invisible furry hand]

Considering this is the sort of thing they have to look at, blindness might be a kindness

[Almanian!]

There's no sugarcoating it - Ray Charles could see this is an issue.

[Snark Plissken]

I was assured by Danny Boyle's Olympic Games opening ceremony that the NHS is a magical thing.

[Drake]

And they get what they pay for.

[Scarecrow Repair]

It works just as well as all magic does.

[Jazzizhep]

The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.
Richard Dawkins

Who says this is not planned?

[Fatty Bolger]

their clinics didn't not have the capacity to meet demand.

Might want to fix that double negative.

Anyway, it's nationalized health care. Not having capacity for demand is baked in the cake. Along with nobody giving enough of a shit to really do anything about it until it becomes a political issue, demanding a political solution.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe if a third of ophthalmologists and ophthalmological nurses weren't spending all their time taking surveys...

[pan fried wylie]

The NSS (National Survey Service) is suffering an even worse capacity deficit.

[Corning]

Lets go ask Krugman what he thinks about all this.

*leaves*

...

*comes back*

Yeah I asked him and he said austerity is to blame.

[Suthenboy]

There was a story here a while back, and I dont remember if it was a reason story or a link in the comments, about woman bitten by a recluse while on vacation in Italy. They have nationalized healthcare.

She was unable to get treatment there and had to come to the states for any kind of effective treatment...after she had lost an ear.

Given the plethora of evidence that socialized medicine is a nightmare, like all socialized things, I can only conclude that the people pushing it are evil.

[invisible furry hand]

Not quite, my bayou buddy. Dutch woman goes to Italy, gets bitten, Italian doctors don't pick up the cause of the swelling on her ear, goes home, bits of ear start to fall off

http://www.news.com.au/lifesty.....6761977249

[Suthenboy]

I remember.

I also remember reading about a woman visiting Italy whose child became sick. She took the kid to the hospital and spent hours there, never receiving any treatment; there were no doctors.

A nurse finally advised her to take the kid home and treat the kid herself, giving instructions on how to do so.

I used to have a pen-pal in England, a retired nurse. She was retired because she had performed a surgery herself to save a patient's life. The person was on their death bed and so was giving a three month waiting period for the lifesaving surgery that was needed immediately.

I can read between the lines. The spider bite victim docs didnt pick up the cause because they were either absent or incompetent.

[anarch]

Oh, recluse spider.

At first I really thought you meant a hermit.

[Almanian!]

I'm only laughing because I thought the same thing.

People bites really ARE the worst.

[anarch]

But crabs aren't people, though the inverse is sometimes true.

[sarcasmic]

I got bit by a cat several years ago and if I hadn't gotten IV antibiotics I would have lost my hand.

[Bean Counter]

Oh, God...the spider didn't even occur to me. Senior moment on steroids!

[SweatingGin]

Consider the broken arm test for countries.

If you break your arm in Japan, or South Korea, you probably just get it set, and you're fine. Break your arm in, say, Zambia, you probably aim to get on a plane back to the US and get it fixed here.

So... it's a matter of how far along the path to socialized medicine a country is before they no longer pass the broken arm test.

[Snark Plissken]

I do have to admit it's nice to have EU wide health coverage automatically. It's come in handy a few times.

[Snark Plissken]

Although when my wife broke her arm skiing in France it was a hell of a wait.

[Fatty Bolger]

That's a low hurdle. I bet they can set an arm in Zambia. But if you need it surgically reattached, you're fucked.

[sarcasmic]

I can only conclude that the people pushing it are evil

It is better that everyone receive equally shitty care than some get better treatment than others! Equality of outcome is all that matters! The evil people are the libertarians who support inequality! Libertarians would have the rich get the best care while the poor must rely on the charity of the rich! That's terrible! So what if charity care is still better than single payer! It's unequal! It's not fair! Not fair I tell you! Not fair! *stomp* *stomp* *stomp* NOT FAIR!

[Austrian Anarchy]

The state views cancer as a much worse problem than blindness. Why do distract from the issues? Do you want people to die of cancer?

[Almanian!]

Well, this IS a libertarian site, so....probably.

[wareagle]

so even if you like our eyesight, you may not be able to keep it.

[JD the elder]

This is what happens when you have an unregulated free-market healthcare system run only for profit! It...what? The UK?
*clears throat*
This story is clearly just an evil lie spread by Randroid Teathuglicans because they hate the poor!

/progderp