So you say you want government to take over your health care? The maddening inefficiencies and inadequacies of government health care systems in Europe have been widely publicized, but it's good for us to periodically be reminded of what we're buying into if we go along with proposals to nationalize medical care in this country. Consider, then, this story from the UK Daily Mail Online:
A three-year-old girl waiting for vital heart surgery has had her operation cancelled three times in as many weeks because of a shortage of hospital beds.
Ella Cotterell was due to have an operation to widen her aorta artery in her heart on Monday at Bristol Children's Hospital, but her surgery was cancelled 48 hours before because all 15 beds in the intensive care unit were full.
Ella, of Bradley Stoke, Bristol, had open heart surgery when she was just nine days old and suffered a stroke at 18 months.
Her parents Ian Cotterell, 44, and Rachel Davis, 40, were told in October that she would need the operation within 12 to 18 months.
Her mother Rachel Davis said today she was devastated when the hospital told her the surgery would be cancelled because there were not enough beds. 'My husband and I were in tears,' she said.
Ms Davis, who works part time as an accident and emergency nurse at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital, called on the Government to plough more money into the NHS before a child died on the waiting list.
'This is a national problem, there are not enough resources in the NHS and it is about prioritising.
'Children who need routine grommet operations are seen quickly yet the children who need life-saving surgery are waiting because there are not enough intensive care beds and staff.
'It is a matter of time before a child dies on the waiting list and I don't want it to be Ella.
'If that does happen the Government will have blood on their hands.'
There've been reports that people who need MRIs in Europe must sometimes wait for months to have the procedure done because there aren't enough MRIs or technicians to meet the demand. This is typical in a government run system because, unlike a free market, government is not responsive to customer demand and in a nationalized system there's no profit incentive to be responsive. Take away profit and competition and what you get are too few beds and delays that could last months or years, yet government-run health care is what a lot of people are hoping to soon have in this country.
RLC