Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Socialized medicine nightmare in Scotland

This sickening story shows that socialized medicine is not a forward-step for a nation.

From The Scotsman:

A 36 year-old Scots mother elected to have her breasts removed and a hysterectomy after being told she would have to wait at least two years for the results of genetic tests to discover if she had an increased risk of cancer.

Oonagh Wilson, who has been waiting now for almost four years to find out if her family faces a greater risk of breast cancer, yesterday spoke of her anger and frustration at the delays.

A backlog of women waiting for results has been blamed on lack of funding and trained staff, changes to the way services are delivered and delays in getting licences to carry out the tests, which have to be obtained from genetics watchdogs.

Politicians yesterday described the situation as "inhuman" and "shocking". Mrs Wilson said she has been left in limbo, not knowing whether her two children and other family members were carrying a cancer "timebomb."

After my last physical, I had a test done because of a slightly irregular reading regarding my liver. I got my results back (I was fine) one week later, paid for in full by my "greedy" insurance company.

Of course, if Scotland had someone like Hillary Clinton in charge of health care, things would be much better in Caledonia.

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