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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (12689)	12/24/2009 5:33:45 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

Paying for it is another matter entirely. I submit that the physician is not the best judge of that, unless he's paying for it, of course. Who is a better judge? The physician is uniquely qualified (at least, more than anyone else) to estimate the value of the surgery versus the cost. He is the guy who best comprehends the prognosis for quality of life, and I'm not sure whether a quantified judgment is the way to go. One concern I have is that there is valuable experience gained from doing complex procedures on very sick people. I could have told this before, but back in the 70s, a family friend, a salesman, was told by his physician he had a month to live due to liver cancer. He became one of the first patients to receive a liver transplant, at one time, being the longest living patient to have received one. He lived five very difficult years. Last year, another friend received one. She was in and out of the hospital in days, and leads a totally normal life. The point is, that had those early liver transplants not occurred -- pretty ineffective in terms of quality of life -- I'm pretty sure we wouldn't see the technique applied with such success today. If a society finds it desirable to prolong life, it is necessary that not-so-promising procedures be performed today so that future generations can benefit. I think there is sufficient value in constantly pushing the limits of technology (which includes expensive procedures on older people) to try to find a way to do it. That's not to say we should deprive others of medical care to do it; but as we've discussed, with a competent legislative process, there is a good chance we could get bigger bang for the buck all the way around.