Using donated organs as political footballs won't increase confidence in public health insurance.

[LoZoccolo]

[FarLeftFist]

1. I sure hope so.

[Ecumenist]

2. I'm not sure I understand your question....What are you trying to say? eom

[LoZoccolo]

3. Some people are starting to argue that Dick Cheney should not have gotten a new heart.

I think that that's a stupid thing to say when conservatives have managed to scare people with the idea that the more control given to the government to administer who gets care, the more it will be used for nefarious purposes and to manipulate people. It plays right into the "death panel" scare stories when you go around saying so-and-so doesn't deserve an organ transplant (especially when trying to establish health care as a human right). I want people to have confidence that there will not be political tugs-of-war over the distribution of health care; I also want people to have confidence that they'll not be discriminated against by the health care system. I am pretty sure that it won't actually happen, but as I say, conservatives will convince people based on scare stories.

[Ecumenist]

4. Okay, Now I understand. yes, I think that as long as people a determined to be in

good enough shape the JUSTIFY the transplants, I agree with you completely even if it seems to be, in the case of creeps like Cheney, distasteful.

[RZM]

5. This list is the list

Is the list . . .

I don't care who's on it and I damn sure don't care about their political beliefs, personal/public/ history, or anything else about them. You get in line and wait your turn, no matter who you are. End of story.

As one poster has pointed out, it seems that's the law now anyway. And for good reason.

[tularetom]

7. Not everyone who needs a new heart is going to get one

And as long as this is the case, a decision is going to have to made as to who will receive the next one that becomes available. This is the way it works now and will have to be the way it works in the future. And the people who want to kill health care reform can call it a "death panel" if they want, but the fact remains, until the supply meets the demand, a decision must be made.

And there is no way, under any rational method of deciding, that a 71 year old in poor health will be at the top of any list.

What you are saying is that we have "death panels" at the present time. But the current "death panels" are biased in favor of the wealthy and well connected, not those who would most benefit from the new organ.

I don't care if some assholes want to scare dumb people with all this "death panel" bullshit. Cheney does not deserve a new heart.

[malaise]

9. Very well said

This should be an OP

[Nay]

10. "And there is no way, under any rational method of deciding, that a 71 year old in poor health

will be at the top of any list."

This, of course, is THE defining statement. How, exactly, DID a 71-yr-old in bad health possibly get to the top of any heart transplant list? How?

Is there anyone in the medical industry on DU who could give us any possible explanation of how this could happen, other than that Cheney is rich and powerful?

[JonLP24]

8. I actually agree with you here

I personally stay away from the Cheney heart conversations. I don't know if he is a good candidate or not for a transplant or if he should have one or not because of his age. I don't know if he had to wait or not or somehow bumped himself up the list. I simply don't know anything but I won't say he shouldn't have gotten that heart.

Plenty of other things I can criticize him on.