CNN's False Claims
From: Scott
Date: Saturday, July 14, 2007 12:26 PM
To: mmflint@aol.com
Subject: CNN's False Claims
Dear Mr. Moore,
I first of all want to congratulate you on having the courage to stand
up for something you believe in, even though I know you realized that
you are going to face backlash from people who have the agenda of
trying to discredit you.
I want to share with you the story of my wife. About a week ago (July
6, 2007) my wife and I went to the hospital because she was
complaining about a severe pain on her right side under her ribs. We
went to emergency at a hospital and the doctor figured that it was a
gallstone attack causing her the sudden and acute pain. Her liver
enzyme level was at almost 1000, when the normal level should be
around 50. Needless to say there was concern. The emergency doctor
told us it seems like a gallbladder issue. However, the pain subsided
and we ended up going home. On Monday, July 9th she called her family
doctor and got in to see them THAT DAY. They got her an ultrasound on
Wednesday July 11, used to diagnose the fact of if her gallbladder has
gallstones or not, and found that her gallbladder was FULL of stones,
sort of like when you get a full prescription bottle. All of these
stones represent another potential attack that she described as
feeling like she was having a heart attack.
On Thursday, July 12, she has a consultation with a surgeon,
facilitated by her family doctor, to follow up on the ultrasound
results. He told her and she needed to get her gallbladder out. On
Friday July 13, she got into the hospital and had her gallbladder
removed during an emergency surgery. All of this happened within a
week from initial pain to surgery. As I type you this e-mail, she is
sitting in a hospital bed, being taken care of by a PUBLICLY FUNDED
HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM. What's the bill going to be when we walk out of
the hospital? NOTHING, but you knew this already. I can rest assured
knowing that my wife is being taken care of, not having to sit here
and worry about how much this is going to cost or if I'll have to
re-mortgage our house in order to pay for this hospital visit.
Despite Dr. Sanjay Gupta's claim that "In Canada, you can be waiting a
long time," this has never been my experience. Medical care is given
by priority in Canada. The people who need it first, get it first. If
I come in with a broken finger, I will not be as high a priority as
someone who has been in a car accident and is clinging on to life. If
this is what Dr. Gupta is talking about in terms of waiting a long
time, than to me this makes logical sense. When there is a finite
supply of doctors, those who need care more urgently should get the
care first. Bottom line, when urgent care is needed in emergency
situations, I know we will get the care we need. What does this care
cost me in Alberta? $44 / month for Alberta Health Care. In a national
that spends ungodly amount of money on military expenditures, I have
to question where the priority of that government is.
I want to speak to American's who believe that publicly funded
health-care isn't necessary. Too many people have this attitude that
"It'll never happen to me. I might smoke, but I'll never get cancer. I
can eat fast food and neglect my body, but I won't have a heart
attack." This ignorant attitude unfortunately permeates mankind.
However, when it DOES (and it will) happen to people, they are going
to wish that they has publicly funded health-care. Statistics can be
manipulated, no doubt, but when they correlate as strongly as yours do
from various sources, it hard to make an argument against them even
though certain people with a certain political agenda will attempt to
do so regarding inadequacies of the American health-care system.
I just wanted to say thanks for taking the stand that you do. While I
am not an American, I can appreciate what you are trying to do for the
good of all Americans, not just a privileged few. If nothing else,
your film has created dialogue exposing the problems with privately
funded health-care systems and the greed associated with them.
Yours Truly,
Scott
Sherwood Park, Alberta., Canada.
