Daily Mail: CUTENESS!

Move over Bambi... at barely ten inches tall this HAS to be the cutest baby around

"My Second Birth"-Man Misdiagnosed as Being in Coma for 23 Years!

In a post on a similar story to the following, I said: "Doctors are wrong all the time, you never know what will happen in the future - whether it's a miracle or a medical advance - that could bring your loved one back to you..." Well, here's a coma case where the doctors were wrong and it was only with medical advances that a man was "reborn:"

Patient trapped in a 23-year 'coma' was conscious all along

Doctors used a range of coma tests, recognised worldwide, before reluctantly concluding that his consciousness was 'extinct'.

But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. ...

Mr Houben describes the moment as 'my second birth'.

Therapy has since allowed him to tap out messages on a computer screen. ...

Mr Houben, a former martial arts enthusiast, was paralysed in 1983.

Doctors in Zolder, Belgium, used the internationally accepted Glasgow Coma Scale to assess his eye, verbal and motor responses.

But each time he was graded incorrectly.

Only a re-evaluation of his case at the University of Liege discovered that he had lost control of his body but was still fully aware of what was happening. ...

Dr Laureys's new study claims that patients classed as in a vegetative state are often misdiagnosed.

'Anyone who bears the stamp of "unconscious" just one time hardly ever gets rid of it again,' he said. ...

Supporters of euthanasia and assisted suicide argue that people who have lain in persistent vegetative states for years should be given the opportunity to have crucial medical support withdrawn because of the 'indignity' of their condition.

But there have been several cases in which people judged to be in vegetative states or deep comas have recovered. ...

Terri Schiavo was judged to be in a "persistent vegetative state" before she was starved to death. Who knows if the diagnosis was correct, if she could have recovered through therapy, or if new advances in science could have helped her? Cases like this reinforce my opposition to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide - always err on the side of life and pray for a miracle, because they do happen.

Related posts:

Back from the dead

The Slippery Slope in Action

Funny or Die Health Care Parodies

That ridiculous Will Ferrell MoveOn ad was just BEGGING to be parodied.

Catholic Vote made an AWESOME one:



and another one making fun of celebrities:

Remembering Mildred Rose Naiman

I posted this tribute to the memory of Mildred Rose Naiman in the past and I wanted to make sure she was represented again this year. Rest in Peace.

My September 11th tribute as part of Project 2,996 is to Mildred Rose Naiman, 81, from Andover, MA, the town next to my hometown. According to WBZ Boston, over 200 people with ties to Massachusetts died on 9-11-01.

"Millie," as she was known to her loved ones, was on her way to California to visit her 2 sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she was killed. She was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to be hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.

Born on March 24, 1920, Mildred Naiman worked at Western Electric Co. as a tester. In her later years, she lived in a self-proclaimed "bachelorette pad" - her apartment in a retirement community - where she was active in planning and organizing events with her friends.

In a profile published on January 6, 2002, her daughter-in-law, Carol Naiman, told the New York Times, "She had a little bit of a lead foot. She had been stopped for speeding and was totally insulted the officer would give an old woman a ticket."

Although the feisty great-grandmother had had several knee replacement surgeries, cataracts, and other health problems, she still loved to travel. Her son Russ said, "If something was wrong with her, she'd go to the doctor and say, 'Fix me up; I've got a lot of traveling to do.' "

While she needed the help of a wheelchair at the airport, she still managed to visit her family twice a year. The Sunday before her fatal flight, a family member had asked if she was afraid of flying; her granddaughter, Hope, remembers her reply: "No, I've gone everywhere already--to Germany, the Bahamas. I'm not afraid to fly."

Incredibly, on July 24, 2004, the New York Post reported that the medical examiner's office had identified her remains. Many 9-11 victims are still unaccounted for. I hope her family gained some sense of closure with this discovery and was able to finally put her body to rest.

Today, on the eighth anniversary of her death, we celebrate the life of Mildred Rose Naiman.
May she, and the other 2,995 tragically murdered on that day, rest in peace.


9-11: NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET

Daily Mail Horror Story: UK Health Care Left Me to Die

Buried in this article warning of the dangers of fake tanning, Why celebrities are to blame for women risking their lives in sunbed salons to look tanned, is a revealing nugget about UK's government-run socialized health care:

In November 2007, my consultant told me to go home and enjoy my last Christmas with my family - the cancer was aggressive and had spread so quickly that I had just four weeks to live.

Many tears were shed in our family after that announcement. But all I could think was that I had three beautiful children and I had to find a way to get treatment.

So I went on the internet and discovered that the life-extending cancer drug Avastin, which I'd been told would not be approved for my use in Britain due to the expense, was available in the U.S.

A few days later, my husband and I flew to the Mayo Hospital in Minnesota, which had agreed to treat me.

At the hospital I had more chemotherapy and was prescribed Avastin. We have had to pay thousands for the drug, but I've been in remission since earlier this year, so it's been worth every penny, especially as doctors here gave me a death sentence almost two years ago.

In a nutshell: The woman was refused live-saving cancer drugs in Britain because they were too expensive! They are available to patients in the US so she flew here and is alive 2 years after UK doctors told her she had weeks to live and there was nothing they could do!

Keep government health care away from the US!
.

Obama's Mom Jeans!

I found this pretty freaking hilarious!

Of course the HuffPo people think he looks "super cool!" or as the always hip Arlen Specter would say, "super-duper" cool. Losers!

P.S. Boos for Obama in St. Louis?! Looks like he's not as infallible as previously thought!

More Pro-Choice Violence

Pro-Life Group Wants Justice Department to Investigate Death Threats, Gets Refusal

Abortion Advocate Nearly Runs Over Pro-Life Planned Parenthood Protester

Arkansas Man Faces July Trial for Nearly Hitting Pro-Life Advocates With Car

Abortion Advocate Attacks Pro-Life Group's Office, Tries to Disable Security System

And let's not forget about the SEVENTH instance of Planned Parenthood breaking the law by not reporting the statutory rape of underage girls:

Planned Parenthood Abortion Center Staffer: We Bend the Rules on Sexual Abuse

Related posts:

Pro-"Choice" Violence

Socialized Health Care Horror Stories: Cancer, Part 2

Before examining how socialized health care affects other conditions, I wanted to follow up on last week's cancer focus with two more cancer horror story articles from the United Kingdom.

UK Telegraph: Patients with suspected cancer forced to wait so NHS targets can be hit

People arriving at Accident and Emergency departments [Emergency Rooms in the United States] with symptoms which could indicate the aggressive spread of the disease are waiting weeks for diagnosis and treatment while “routine” cases are prioritised.

Hospital managers told researchers that treating desperately sick patients more quickly would “reflect badly” on their performance against Government cancer targets which only cover those referred to specialists by GPs.
...
Katherine Murphy, from the Patients Association, said the report provided “breathtaking” evidence of a confidence trick being played on the public, repeatedly told that waiting times for patients with suspected cancer are falling, while desperate cases were forced to the back of the queue.

She said: “This confirms our very worst fears, and exposes the scandal of what pernicious targets are doing to patients. We have seen other targets being used in ways that damage patient care, but of everything we have seen, this really is the cruellest of the cruel”.

Because of the pressure to cut down on the wait times inherent in universal health care, targets have been put in place to make sure hospitals meet certain time requirements. In response, hospitals put their focus on the cases that are counted towards the targets (i.e. cancer patients referred by GPs) and put the cases that don't count towards targets (emergency cancer patients) on the back burner. When the government runs health care, meeting warped government standards takes priority over treating the sickest.

UK Daily Mail: Britain's cancer shame as 15,000 elderly patients could be saved every year

UP to 15,000 Britons aged over 75 are dying needlessly from cancer each year, claim researchers.

Their lives could be prolonged if UK cancer survival rates matched the best in Europe and the US, it is claimed.

A new study is the latest to expose the gap between survival rates in Britain and other developed countries despite huge increases in NHS funding.

Researchers say many older sufferers have more invasive cancers, partly caused by later diagnosis of the disease either through delays in the NHS or by patients themselves.

Another factor is poorer treatment of patients here, compared with other countries which often have a wider range of drugs to use.

…

Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley said 'This report exposes the huge problems with Labour’s bureaucratic, tick-box culture. Their targets for cancer survival for the NHS only focus on the under 75s, so it’s not surprising older people are suffering.

15,000 senior citizens die every year because of the socialized health care system. Britain is considerably smaller than the United States, so the numbers would be far higher here if we were to follow the UK. The problems that lead to these preventable deaths are also hallmarks of universal health care: more delays, poorer treatment, less access to drugs, and more inhuman bureaucracy. Again, government targets have unintended and harmful consequences for patients.

Originally posted at American Issues Project Blog.

Happy Independence Day 2009!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!!! And thank you to all the patriots, past, present & future who make our independence possible!

Obamercial Response

Check out Cato's response to the many inaccuracies of the #Obamercial last week: