Horray for George W. Bush! (and to hell with poor sick people)

A sad shocking story.  (Discussion here and tastefully done CNN video here).

An indigent  patient is checked into the publicly-financed psychiatric ward in New York.  She lay dead on the waiting room floor for 48 minutes before a staff member notices what happened. She had been convulsing on the floor for 30 minutes unnoticed. (the surveillance videotaped captured it though).

She had been waiting in this room for 24 hours to see a doctor and never saw one. Imagine that. Imagine spending your last 24 hours in pain and distress, dying in this hellish place.

I don’t know the implications for private health providers.

Here is what she looked like when alive.   She recently lost a low-paying job and had been evicted from her home. A neighbor describes her as  “a beautiful person… She has a good heart. She loved people, and she loved children.” She sang in the church choir.

In other news, the decision of the US to elect George W. Bush  to start an unnecessary war cost Americans $137 billion in 2007, enough to provide a year of health care coverage for 40 million people.

When you talk to people who voted for George W. Bush, think about that.