Coronavirus... and senior citizens

Pete

Pete

Member
Location
Texas
olddeath1.jpg
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...today as I was waking up and listening to 'freakonomics' on Texas public radio. In the Dallas area on Sunday's the choice is religion, freakonomics or how to invest your money. Anyway as my brain slowly became active I heard the words a “priority of care point system” used to determine who would get ventilators and critical care during the COVID-19 crisis.

It appears that senior citizens like myself who are retired and may have a 'underlying' condition like respiratory or heart problems etc definitely do not get enough points to warrant critical health care during the COVID-19 pandemic in a number of states.

I remember when they were fighting to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or obamacare there was much talk of death panels, well guess what folks in some states they are here. If you look at the policies for critical health care in NY there is a non-discrimination policy meaning everyone is equal based on need as opposed to Michigan where health care workers get the highest priority.

Now I understand the reasoning for this but wouldn't you consider a 64 year old over the road truck driver just as necessary as an healthcare worker? If that man didn't deliver the medicine to the hospital the healthcare workers would not have the medicine or equipment there to help those stricken by the coronavirus.


As I head to my once every two week


grocery run tomorrow


I hope Texas


is one of the states


that do not discriminate


because of age


or underlying condition.​
 

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If it comes to triage, they will probably do the typical thing, which is to treat the most likely to survive. That's not liberal, it's just a difficult choice that has to be made if there's not enough treatment to go around. It has probably already happened in places like New York City. If we can slow the spread of this virus to match our capabilities, it won't be necessary.

Don

ps. Politics is banned on this forum. This will probably be locked or deleted.
 
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No matter which way you look at it that is unequalness which seems to violate our constitutional rights. I'm in Ohio and hoping hard I don't get the virus--there are supposedly enough ventilators to go around the country now so I don't see why they would be discriminating that way.
 
Grampa Don said:
If it comes to triage, they will probably do the typical thing, which is to treat the most likely to survive. That's not liberal, it's just a difficult choice that has to be made if there's not enough treatment to go around.
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Grampa hit the nail square on the head.... And unfortunately in a few places Im sure this has occurred out of necessity...
Health care providers need to discus this before hand... Pre plan per say... to be prepared....
Bed ridden 80 year old stroke victim in a nursing home V/S a 35 year old mother of 4?
How about a 28 year old quadriplegic confined to a bed due to a severe head injury, V/S a 70 year old generally healthy scientist.
I have been in the position, more than once, forced to make that choice and it sucks..
 
Grampa Don said:
If it comes to triage, they will probably do the typical thing, which is to treat the most likely to survive. That's not liberal, it's just a difficult choice that has to be made if there's not enough treatment to go around. It has probably already happened in places like New York City. If we can slow the spread of this virus to match our capabilities, it won't be necessary.

Don

ps. Politics is banned on this forum. This will probably be locked or deleted.
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Politics has nothing to do with my observation of different news reports, it is just the fact that being older and with some existing conditions (does) lower our chance at the critical care in states that have made medical workers the ones that get priority care.
 
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If you had said "Fox news is right wing propaganda' I would have said the same thing. The word has strong negative connotations. I don't care to hear about your political leanings and I'm sure you don't care about mine.

Don
 
Triage has always been, we just happen to be at the end of the
line. I bare the medical people making these decision no malice.
At present politics does not enter into the decisions, but we should be watchful.
 
old medic said:
Grampa hit the nail square on the head.... And unfortunately in a few places Im sure this has occurred out of necessity...
Health care providers need to discus this before hand... Pre plan per say... to be prepared....
Bed ridden 80 year old stroke victim in a nursing home V/S a 35 year old mother of 4?
How about a 28 year old quadriplegic confined to a bed due to a severe head injury, V/S a 70 year old generally healthy scientist.
I have been in the position, more than once, forced to make that choice and it sucks..
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Without COMPLETE supplies and equipment and staffing, tough decisions HAVE to be made. I'm okay with that - it is the reality of a horrible situation. That's why I updated my DNR instructions - I don't want extensive medical care at this stage of my life if it means that someone with a better future might be deprived of scarce resources.
 
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terry123 said:
Like I have said before, at age 50 a vent saved my life. Now at 72, just let me go. Give my vent to someone younger that has more time to live. My soul leaves my body when I die and I live in a new body that will never be sick again.
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I agree. If I were to find myself in such a situation, and the doctors had to make a choice between saving me, or some young person with a family to raise, I would ask the doctor to just pump me up with some pain killer. I've had a good life, and certainly wouldn't be selfish enough to think I'm more important than some young guy/gal with young children.
 
Grampa Don said:
If you had said "Fox news is right wing propaganda' I would have said the same thing. The word has strong negative connotations. I don't care to hear about your political leanings and I'm sure you don't care about mine.

Don
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True Don I'm sorry I write for a number of online publications and sometimes trying to adjust/censor an article for each web site can be tricky... again thanks for keeping me on my toes.
Grampa Don said:
I guess this seemed a little political to me. " I know public radio just another word for liberal propaganda "

Maybe politics is in the eye of the beholder.

Don
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***The original posting has been adjusted to make it less controversial.
 
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