Death Panels

For a frightening glimpse of what socialized medical care, such as that which the Obama administration and the Democratic party imposed upon us under the Affordable Care Act, would look like in practice read the sad account of little Alfie Evans of England and his parents.

Alfie is an almost three year-old British child who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Here's part of his story:

In January 2016, the eight-month-old baby developed a chest infection and was hospitalized. The prognosis his parents were given at that time was that he would not survive, and they had him christened. He was placed on life support, then recovered from the first infection.

Alfie quickly got sick again, however, and began a cycle of repetitive illnesses and setbacks in Alder Hey, the hospital his parents took him to in order to save his life. Despite numerous requests for transfers to other hospitals, his parents have not been allowed to move his care to a hospital that might be able to better care for or diagnose him. Instead, Alder Hey has sought legal representation with the goal of turning off Alfie’s life support, and giving him medications to help end his life.

His parents are understandably frantic. They believe their son has been misdiagnosed, and they want to move him to another hospital. They certainly don't want life-support turned off. Nevertheless, he was removed from the ventilator, but to the surprise of the medical staff, Alfie kept breathing which has given his parents renewed motivation to return to court to work out another solution.

Meanwhile the Bambino Gesu hospital at the Vatican has offered to treat Alfie for free and even pay for his transportation to Vatican City, but British authorities have declared that Alfie is terminally ill and will die soon, and they'll not allow him to be taken out of the British hospital.

Since the British taxpayers are paying for his treatment the National Health Service and the courts have complete control over Alfie's life. In their system of single-payer socialized medicine the parents have no say over what happens to their child. The courts have ruled that Alfie must be allowed to die.

This is the health care model the Obama administration tried to create here in the U.S., and the model that would almost certainly be imposed upon us when the Democrats next regain control of the White House and Congress.

The fundamental question raised by this case is not whether the medical personnel at Alder Hey are correct in concluding that Alfie will eventually die from his condition, nor is it even whether life support should be withdrawn in cases such as this, although that is an important question.

The most crucial question is whether parents have the right to determine whether or not to maintain that support and remove their child from the hospital to find care for him elsewhere.

In other words, the question is, whose child is this? Does he belong to the parents or to the state? Under the socialist British system the child belongs to the state.

Under Obamacare, or any single-payer system, you, your elderly grandparents, and your children would all belong to the state. Bureaucrats, not you, would decide what kind of care you and your loved ones receive as well as whether you will receive it.

Whoever pays the bills makes the rules and makes life and death decisions for everyone else. That should be unacceptable for free people in a putatively free society.

UPDATE: Alfie passed away this morning.